What anger has to tell you.

I had an experience this week that had me seething.

It was related to a bad customer service experience regarding my car, so the details are not relevant here, but here's what I want to share about this:

Anger - like other emotions - has something to teach us.

It can show us where boundaries have been overstepped, where trust has been violated or where someone has acted in a way that is contrary to our values.

​It also highlights which emotions we judge as acceptable & appropriate, and which ones not.

Like the fact that emotions such as sadness are considered more acceptable in women than in men, and emotions like anger more acceptable in men than women.

More and more, I consider my aversion to expressing anger as part of my "good girl" conditioning. And I'm so done with that.

So here's what I want you to consider.

I'm not saying that you need to just react to whatever's happening in the world and let your emotions lead you wherever they want to take you in practice - teaching clinicians how to think & feel on purpose is a huge part of the work I do.

But I am suggesting that you don't shove down your emotions in practice as "inappropriate" or "unprofessional" when they're alerting you to something that isn't okay.

That when a colleague has overstepped a boundary at work, you let them know. That when a patient makes an inappropriate joke, that you don't laugh and pretend it's all okay. And when you feel that one of your patients is being discriminated against by another provider, that you are willing to fight for them.

Compassion is not only warm and cuddly; it is also FIERCE as f&*%

And you are a living, breathing human who has the right - perhaps even the duty - to bring more of their humanity to work.

We've become so accustomed to "professionalism" loosely translating into "not-quite-human".

We have come to expect that when we go and see someone for a diagnosis on our cough or to purchase a new pair of shoes, that that person will be robotic, professional, and just oh so nice.

Enough of niceness. Let's have more realness.

Enough of professionalism. Let's have more aliveness.

Enough of sameness.

The world needs more of YOU in the work you do.