Residency asks a great deal of you. The days are long, the learning curve is steep, and it’s easy to get into the habit of pushing through without noticing how much you’re asking of yourself. Over the years, I’ve watched many outstanding residents believe they had to prove themselves by never slowing down. In reality, the residents who thrive are often the ones who learn how to pace themselves. The habits you build now matter\u2014not because they’ll make residency easy, but because they’ll help you sustain you through it.<\/p>\n
Don’t skip the basics<\/strong><\/p>\n Water, food, sleep, and movement are often the first things to disappear when life gets busy, yet they’re the very things that help you think clearly, care for patients, and make good decisions when the day gets demanding. Keep a water bottle nearby. Pack something that will give you lasting energy. Take the stairs when you can. These aren’t luxuries, they’re the foundation that helps you keep showing up at your best.<\/p>\n Use the small breaks you have<\/strong><\/p>\n You may not get long breaks, but you’ll usually have a minute here and there between patients or cases. Roll your shoulders, stretch your hands, or walk the hallway before heading to the next operatory. Small moments of movement throughout the day can help release tension, boost energy, and provide a mental reset. They won’t erase a long shift, but they can keep you from carrying stress hour after hour without a pause.<\/p>\n Create a pause between patients<\/strong><\/p>\n Between patient encounters, after completing your documentation, and before greeting your next patient, give yourself a moment to breathe. One slow, intentional breath can help you reset before moving on. It’s a simple habit that keeps you from carrying the stress of one encounter into the next, and it takes only a few seconds.<\/p>\n Give yourself permission not to know everything<\/strong><\/p>\n You’re in training. You’re not expected to have all the answers yet. Trying to perform as though you do only adds unnecessary pressure. It’s okay to ask questions, double-check your thinking, or say, “I haven’t seen this before.” Curiosity, humility, and a willingness to learn are strengths\u2014not weaknesses\u2014and they’re exactly what residency is designed to develop.<\/p>\n Hold onto one thing that’s just yours<\/strong><\/p>\n Find one small part of your day that belongs entirely to you. Maybe it’s enjoying your morning coffee before checking your phone, listening to your favorite music on the drive home, taking a short walk, or reading a few pages of a book before bed. It doesn’t need to be productive\u2014it simply needs to remind you that your identity is bigger than your job.<\/p>\n Residency will challenge you in countless ways but looking after yourself isn’t separate from becoming a good clinician, it is part of becoming one. Taking care of your own well-being doesn’t mean doing less for your patients. It means pacing yourself so you can continue to provide thoughtful, compassionate care throughout your career. The goal isn’t perfection. It’s building habits now that will allow you to thrive, not just survive, during residency and long after graduation.<\/p>\n As faculty, we don’t expect you to know everything on day one. We do expect you to ask questions, remain curious, care for your patients\u2014and care for yourself. The residents who become exceptional clinicians aren’t the ones who never struggle; they’re the ones who continue learning, seek help when they need it, and build habits that allow them to sustain a long, meaningful career. Give yourself the same compassion you so readily extend to your patients.<\/p>\n Dr. Bina Katechia is chair of the Department of Pediatric Dentistry at the UConn School of Dental Medicine<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With new dental residents starting this month, Dr. Bina Katechia shares her top wellness tips<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":231277,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2166],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2177],"class_list":["post-248538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sdm"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-23 11:22:25","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248538"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":248557,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248538\/revisions\/248557"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/231277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248538"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=248538"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=248538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}