From Stressful To Pleasant Memories

Guess where we went?

Every time before we travel, I get really stressed. Patients who have not seen me for a while suddenly asking to be seen on short notice. There are also many other things to be done in the clinic before leaving not to mention packing. My wife and kids often bear the brunt of my stress.

Even though we often think of vacation as a time to relax and recharge, traveling with two young boys sometimes come with definite difficulties. Especially when my older boy fractured his arm last year while we were in Brisbane.

This time we made sure to plan for mishaps and disasters. This often leads to bickering over the slightest thing with my wife and leaves me feeling stressed out. Thankfully, my wife does all that planning, taking up time, finances and stamina. I just pay.

The houses we find are often big and beautiful, but ultimately they aren't home. My older boy likes feeling safe and secure and we make sure both of them have that.

We never ever travel red-eye anymore after a particularly bad experience when my younger boy didn't sleep a wink and all hell broke loose when we landed and had to wait a long time at immigration. After the birth of our boys, we only fly with Singapore Airlines as the boys get a toy/ game once on board, are served their child meals first and they can be entertained by the in-flight entertainment system.

Fortunately, we didn't plan hours of walking, sightseeing or other touristy stuff. Too many activities make our boys tired.  In fact, we normally avoid the touristy places and plan plenty of down time. We normally rent houses near rivers or beaches and farm stays. Both my boys especially the little one love farm stays, feeding the animals, collecting your own herbs, vegetables and fresh eggs.

My wife pack lots of snacks so that the boys don't get hungry and have temper tantrums. We often go through pictures taken during the trip and laugh at what we did. Our boys really like this time together as we share new experiences, conversations and laughter.The best memories seem to come from these spontaneous moments.

During stressed times while traveling, which may be due to family, children or indignities of bureaucratic travel, I just need to calm down and think of the happy times.

Everyone in my family is sleeping as I type this, so that I can give them my undivided attention during the other times. So please excuse me for not writing until I'm back in early December.

Fireworks at Darling Harbour last night

Breakthrough Performances And Hot Streaks

A few fellow physiotherapists that I've treated recently commented that they were quite amazed that I've gotten them (and patients) better so quickly that it almost seems difficult to believe.

To which I'd always say that nothing really improves in a straight line. Except our age, nothing really goes up in a straight line. Just like the stock market gyrations, there are days when it rises, some days it drops like a rock or days where it moves sideways.

Success in getting a breakthrough performance (or getting a patient better) is similar. It is almost never about a single monumental shift.

Think of a glass of water that you put in the freezer.  The water starts to freeze when it goes under zero degrees celsius (or 32 degrees Fahrenheit). This does not mean that the energy needed to lower the temperature from three degrees, two, one degree and zero isn't important. In fact, you will never get the water to freeze if all the prior work to cool it down isn't done.

Similarly, breakthrough moments are often the result of many previous actions, which slowly accumulate to unleash a major change.

In order to make a significant change, you need to work persistently to break through inevitable plateaus. Just like the water gradually turning into ice, you are gradually changing and improving as you slog along.

A patient (who used to race aquathlons) recounted the following experience. He and a fellow team mate were stuck at swimming 1:40 minute for the 100 meter swim intervals for a very long time. Without any real change in training, they suddenly got it down to 1:30 minute.

A patient of mine who runs got his kilometer repeats down from 4 minutes to 3:45. Or another athlete shared that he was squatting 100 kg for three months suddenly improved to 120 kg.

Many of my patients are now done with their racing season, while some are tuning up for their last race of the year. For those preparing for the year end Singapore Marathon, remember it's almost time to taper. When you resume training after your break and perceive no change, remember that just like water that is slowly beginning to freeze, you too are putting in the work for your breakthrough performance.

Back to my conversation with the physiotherapist I treated recently. My "hot streak" on getting good results treating patients definitely rest on a foundation of prior work, during which I try to become a better physiotherapist every year (since I can probably not get faster as an athlete).

In a journal, Nature, which was published recently, researchers found that most people have a "hot streak" in their career - a specific period during which an individual's performance is substantially better than his or her typical performance although the timing is somewhat unpredictable.

Talking it through just 2 days ago

Thanks to my wife and fellow colleagues, we regularly discuss and break down segments of courses we've gone for to make it unique to us. We will strive to make sure this "hot streak" of getting patients better as quickly as possible continues.

Putting it all together

Reference

L Lu, Y Wang, R Sinatra et al (2018). Hot Streaks In Artistic, Cultural, And Scientific Careers. Nature 559: 396-339. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0315-8.

Farewell Car Park Party At Holland Village

As we were walking back, my 8 year old boy asked me "why don't you write about the car park party?"

My younger boy was at home with my wife as he was having a fever and my older boy and I happened to walk past the farewell party for the partial closure of the Holland Village car park just behind the old Buona Vista swimming pool.

Incidentally, both of us attended the farewell pool party at the old Buona Vista Pool back when it closed in February 2014. Our patients did their deep water rehabilitation there at the pool after surgery. In fact, I learnt to swim in that pool and I taught my boy to swim in that pool.

The old swimming pool area is now a car park. This car park is going to be a huge mixed development built by a Far East Organization led consortium.

The landscape here will truly change. We will find out how it turns out in 2024. Below is an artist impression of how it will be ......