“Perpetual Creative Response”

Physicians have an overwhelming sense of responsibility. We feel it’s our job to protect the health of our country, to fight against injustice, and to take a stand.

Expecting ourselves "to solve" what's happening is an unreasonable burden.

What is actually our job?

To model calm and “perpetual creative response”, a term coined by Martha Beck.

It requires that we resist catastrophizing and doomsday thinking— we don’t have to assume it will all be okay—but we also don’t have to assume disaster is inevitable.

Perpetual creative response is another way to say- if things do unfold in the worst possible way, what will we wish we had done today?

Wasted our energy on worry and panic?

Or take care of ourselves, grieve for a moment, gather data, and conserve our energy so we can respond creatively , deliberately, and strategically.