“Go ahead, give yourself permission, summon the compassion and grace you’d bestow on your best friend, and tell yourself, “This is the breadth of the human experience, and I’m only human.” There is immense beauty and strength in that vulnerability. I lied to myself for too long, couldn’t see the road ahead through the cracked glass until it, and I, in turn, shattered. Once those broken shards that obscured and distorted the path forward have been swept away, only then can the clarity of a stronger, more resilient soul begin to emerge.

I’m not back to normal, and it’s possible I may never get there. But each day, there are glimmers of hope that I might be closer to my true self than before — and that’s all I can ask for right now.”

Luyi Kathy Zhang is a palliative care physician and can be reached on Twitter @DrKathyZ.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, “Maybe we’re not all hanging in there. And that’s OK.”

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Hosted by Kevin Pho, MD, The Podcast by KevinMD shares the stories of the many who intersect with our health care system but are rarely heard from.