May 1, 2021

by drplasticpicker

I am still Assistant Boss. I still enjoy my job. I’ve been able to proactively change aspects of my job by going to the root cause of many middle management headaches and tweaking things. I have made my job easier and more appropriate for an MD and not a mindless hamster in the upper panel. I feel like the hamster in the lower panel. I’m ready to dive into the unknown waters, and not sure if I remember how to swim. I don’t really try to direct life, other than working to stop the headlong catastrophe of ecological collapse. I don’t worry about the what ifs and the endless tomorrows. I worry about our planetary future, but I’m sure enjoying the day to day part of life and how much I’m able to do just by being alive on this wondrous earth! One thing I know for sure, I will never be that hamster in the upper panel ever again. Trust me. I won’t and no one can make me because I’m free in so many ways. Free financially. Free mentally. Free from the colonial and misogynist mindset. Someone said something hurtful in an email, one of those little jabs that can destroy a woman leader after a million of them by small-minded people. And I replied back my truth and shined a mirror on that seemingly innocuous yet hurtful comment. But I did it in a clear-sighted and honest way. Just like if one litters in front of Dr. Plastic Picker, I’ll tell you that piece of plastic fell on the ground. It will hurt some living thing. And when I replied my truth and said lets move on, I felt very powerful and free.

I’m finishing the conclusion for our paper for the Journal of Applied Research on Children, and I am so proud of what we’ve done as an author group. It was a labor of passion and love. I think it will make an impact. Most importantly, it made an impact on us writing this piece together and collaborating. I had emailed our co-authors that this is one of the most meaningful projects I have ever worked on. We have decided to have Dr. Katie Durrwachter-Erno be first author partly because her section is first and partly because her name is unqiue and cathcy. We are tickled to be known forever moer as Durrwachter-Erno et al!!! I also finished inviting already inspired health professionals to the Eco-America Climate Health Ambassadors Training. That will be another 7-10 people I know activated or at least on their way. We are getting one of our colleagues from our Climate Change and Health Committee electred as AAP-CA3 Treasurer hopefully. Restarting efforts on the pharmaceutical waste project that will help ensure clean waters. The UCSD School of Medicine Civic Engagement Club is having their litter picking event soon, and the wonderful residents form the Kaiser Family Practice residents are going to go with them. I just have to buy the grabbers and I know where to get them at a discount. Hopefully high quality ones!

But with project after project complete, and making real progress in trying to save the earth – I still wonder at times about the future. I honestly have no further ambitions in middle management. I will finish my term which is two more years, and go where the organization needs me. I drank the HMO Kool-Aid years ago. But stepping off the figurative hamster wheel has been so liberating. What are Dr. Plastic Picker’s Plans for the future? Like the hamster in the lower panel – I honestly don’t know! But I’m so exicited about it! Maybe I’ll buy 20 acres in East County and turn it into a nature preserve and let anyone who wants to hike there hike there? Maybe I’ll start some business ventures and use some of the profits to further our environmental advcocacy? Maybe our premed interns who are absolutely phenomenal will have 100% acceptance rate to top notch medical schools? Maybe I’ll write a book about how 1000 bags of trash changed me, and go on a book tour and take a sabattical which the HMO owes me? Maybe I’ll finally get to drive cross country with Mr. Plastic Picker, but in an electric car and meeting my Durrwachter-Erno et al!!! friends along the way. Colorado, North Carolina, Puerto Rico. That would be an epic road trip. And maybe Mr. Plastic Picker and I will have our 20th wedding anniversary celebration next summer and we’ll invite everyone and dress like Vulcans and serve Vegan food. Yes the future looks wonderful. Get off the mental hamster wheel. Dr. Plastic Picker your assistant boss highly recommends it! Did you see the energy waves being sent to the white house? Was no one else suspcious?