Dogs are angels, but dogma is for the birds. Give me a blank canvas and allow me to work creatively, as I'm not a "paint by numbers" guy. I work with people, not institutions. I'm unabashedly and unapologetically unemployable. I'm an independent soloist at heart. I don't tolerate outside interference with my work. I pay no attention to administrators or bureaucrats. The last time I worked in a hospital setting I felt as if I had stumbled into the Temples of Syrinx sans the splendor of Peart’s peerless percussion. No thanks, I’ll pass. I have enough of my own internal limitations to be additionally stifled by external constraints.

Navigating a therapeutic alliance is the keystone of the patient-psychiatrist relationship. One of my wisest mentors often said, “if you listen to a patient long enough, they’ll tell you what the problem is. If you listen just a little bit longer, they’ll tell you what the solution is.” Another influential psychiatrist and father figure told me during a rough patch in my residency training that, “you’ll learn the most from your most difficult patients.” I often think of those pearls of wisdom, as they remind me to be patient in the process. I’m incredibly thankful for all who helped guide me in my journey. They saw something in me that I was unable to grasp or harness and were exceedingly more patient with me than I ever was with myself.

There are billions of people on this planet, and nobody can be all things to all people. I don’t make the mistake of equating worth with compatibility. When it comes to love, art, music, or food, whatever floats your boat. I’m only a purist when it comes to baseball, and as much as I disliked the DH, interleague play, and the wild card, I could stomach it. The “ghost rule,” however, is a bridge too far for me. It’s abhorrent. I haven’t watched an inning of MLB since it was instituted. I’ll stick to the college game at Hi Corbett. I fully embrace the wonder and power of gratitude, so thank you, Rob Manfred, for freeing up much of my time in the summer. It allows me greater opportunities to listen to Neil Young’s beautifully hypnotic “Harvest Moon” while walking Augie through the mesquites and cottonwoods.

As per the inimitable Gord Downie, “we know that life is short, nobody can afford to sing a song that they don’t love.” (A hat trick of Canadian musical references, eh?) Find your calling and strive to be great at it, through the relentless pursuit of excellence. Love who you love with all your heart and soul, remembering Don Henley’s sagacious words: “the wolf is always at the door.”