It's Going to Be Hilarious" — And Other Things Physicians Need to Start Saying to Themselves

I was standing in a train station in Japan, surrounded by 20 middle schoolers, 5 younger siblings, and a travel group of 57 people, when I realized something: I was actually fine.

Not because the chaos had calmed down. It hadn't. Not because I'm some naturally zen person. I'm not — I'm a planner, a physician, and someone who is very used to being in charge of outcomes.

I was fine because of five words a patient had given me before I left: "It's going to be hilarious."

That sentence was my anchor. Every time something went sideways, I'd find my way back to it and let go just enough to stay in the adventure instead of bracing against it.

It got me thinking about all the moments in medicine, and in life as a physician, where we white-knuckle our way through instead of actually helping ourselves navigate.

We Are Terrible at Being Kind to Ourselves

Think about everything you've climbed: college, medical school, residency, maybe fellowship, maybe parenting, maybe caring for aging parents while doing all of the above. And every single time you reached a summit, you immediately looked up at the next peak without ever pausing to say — "wait, I just did that."

We drive ourselves harder and harder. We tell ourselves that difficulty is just the cost of this life. And we never stop to ask: what if I could do hard things AND be kind to myself along the way?

In Episode 225 of Ending Physician Overwhelm, I share three tools I've quietly built into my own daily life — anchoring sentences, mini-celebrations, and quick pep talks. None of them take more than sixty seconds. All of them work.

Tool #1: Anchoring Sentences

An anchoring sentence is a short, pre-loaded phrase you can drop into a hard moment to interrupt the spiral. Not toxic positivity; a realistic reframe. Something that feels true and keeps you loose instead of locked up.

"It's going to be hilarious" worked for me because it is true. Hard things often are funny in retrospect. The sentence gave my brain somewhere to land instead of spinning through logistics I couldn't control.

Other anchoring sentences worth trying:

• "Future me will laugh about this."
• "I have survived 100% of my hard days so far."
• "We can do hard things."

Find yours before you need it. Think about what your best friend would say to grab your attention when you're starting to spin out. That's your sentence.

Tool #2: Mini-Celebrations

We celebrate every tiny thing when kids do it. Took a step? We clap. Used the potty? We practically throw a parade. And then somewhere in adulthood, we collectively decided that nothing was worth celebrating unless it came with a framed certificate.

That is not how positive reinforcement works. That is not how the brain works. And it's definitely not how sustainable motivation works.

Mini-celebrations are about noticing what you did, big or small, and saying it out loud: "yay me, I did that."

Closed your notes before leaving? Celebrate it. Sent the one-line portal reply instead of writing an essay? Celebrate it. Made it to your kid's recital? Yes. Ate lunch? That too.

You are not lowering the bar. You are finally noticing all the bars you've already cleared. There are more of them than you think.

Tool #3: Quick Pep Talks

You've seen that patient on your schedule. You know the one; the encounter that makes your stomach drop a little before you've even walked in the door. That's exactly when you use this tool.

Three steps. Less than sixty seconds:

Name what's hard. What specifically feels challenging about this? The person, the diagnosis, the dynamic, the history? Be honest. You can't address what you haven't named.

Recall your receipts. You have managed this patient before and survived every encounter. You have navigated diagnoses you didn't know enough about and figured it out. Call up one of those moments and hold it.

Set your intention. Who do you want to be walking into that room today? Not perfect. Not fearless. Just grounded, present, and clear on who you are as a clinician.

That's it. Put it together and you have something that will actually ground you; not hype you up artificially, but remind you of what you already know about yourself.

Listen to the Full Episode

Episode 225 of Ending Physician Overwhelm walks through all three tools with real examples, a mid-episode pause where I ask you to celebrate yourself out loud (yes, really), and some honest reflection on what it looks like when I skip these tools — and what happens when I come back to them.

Worth a notebook and probably a second listen.

👉 Listen to Episode 225: 3 Tools to Use NOW for Better Days

Ready to Go Deeper?

These tools are powerful on their own. But if you want to find your specific anchoring sentence, understand why the celebrations aren't landing, and build a pep talk framework for the hardest moments in your particular life — that's exactly the work I do with physician clients.

I'd love to have a real conversation about where you are and what might help. No pressure, no commitment.

👉 Schedule a Free Discovery Call

You are not someone who needs to be rescued. You're someone who sometimes just needs a reminder that you're already doing it.

And you are.

— Megan

Megan Melo, MD is a family medicine physician, coach, and host of Ending Physician Overwhelm. She helps women physicians release perfectionism, people-pleasing, and the patterns that keep them stuck — so they can practice and live on their own terms.