Finding your ‘why’ is the key to avoiding burnout in a high-pressure environment such as law or medicine.
That was the advice from Dr Dinesh Palipana OAM when he delivered the closing address at the Gold Coast Legal Conference on Friday.
The emergency department doctor, and lawyer, told the audience at RACV Royal Pines Resort at Benowa about his challenges since becoming paralysed from a car accident 15 years ago while a medical student.
He became Queensland’s first quadriplegic medical graduate in 2016 and was admitted as a solicitor in 2020.
Dinesh said his ‘why’ became clear after his fateful accident.
“I was really attached to my car, I was really attached to my apartment, I was really attached to my shoes and my clothes,” he said.
“I had all this ‘stuff’ that I thought defined me.
“Once I had the car accident, I couldn’t afford to keep it all. I lost it all within a few weeks.
“And I was just a naked body under a hospital blanket – a head – I was paralysed.
“And it was the most free I’ve ever felt.
“Sometimes it’s actually about going through some hardships, or putting ourselves through some hardships, to understand who we are.”
Dinesh said both professions had to deal with similar challenges related to expectations, including imposter syndrome and burnout, and the extraneous factors in both professions often took the focus from the core.
“I think there are so many different external pressures that are built in for our professions,” he said.
“I think we’re at a time where professionals, like us, maybe we need to become a bit more philosophical and think deeply about what we do, rather than just be carried away by what we do.
“Wellness is different for all of us. Happiness is different to all of us. It’s dangerous to be prescriptive about things.
“I think it sometimes takes a little bit of time for us to find our ‘why’, what makes us tick, what gets us up out of bed every morning.”
Dinesh said there were “surface things” practitioners could adopt when facing symptoms of burnout.
“I eat my feelings and watch The Simpsons but there are all these different strategies that people use,” he said.
“But at the end of the day, we need to get to the core of why we do what we do.
“For me, to avoid burnout, and to stay resilient and to get energy, it has been staying rooted in the ‘why’.
“In reality, I don’t work for Queensland Heath, I don’t work for a hospital, I don’t work for a state; I work for the patient or client, and if I can make a singular difference, then I will have achieved.
“And then a 10 or 24-hour day doesn’t matter, because I feel like when I go to bed, I’ve done something meaningful.”
Dinesh was the final speaker at the annual one-day event. Presenters from the judiciary, private bar and local practices covered practice issues, challenges and latest developments, across three plenary sessions and two session tracks.
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