It's an elusive state of mind and one that I didn't actually learn to attain until a few years out. We had this FT traveler come through who was probably 20 years into his career or more. He was doing FT old
@GeneralVeers style locums. Hell, it may have been Veers for all I know. He always wore business attire, meticulously groomed, expensive cologne, very dapper dude. Worked 12 hour shifts, 7 in a row and I never saw a bead of sweat on him nor a single hair out of place. Smelled just as good at the end of his shift as he did at the beginning. Always calm, always pleasant, never ruffled, never frustrated. Well, it frustrated the hell out of me because I felt like I had SVT all the time with beads of sweat that would start at my hairline and end up in my gluteal cleft by the end of my shift. I started trying to emulate this guy and low and behold worked a shift where I found this calm and relaxed center state that I like to call my zen state. Well, I had it for about 15 mins, probably less, and then lost it and went back to SVT state for the rest of the shift. I did this over and over until I finally was able to capture it again and maintain it throughout an entire shift. It was a true epiphany for me. I suppose it was kind of similar to biofeedback in a way. Anyway, through trial and error I have finally figured out how to reach and maintain a semi relaxed state throughout the shift and I can't help but think this will have many health benefits further down the line. I'm not 100% by any means, more like 70% or so. It's a work in progress. If I drink a pot of coffee before my shift, I screw myself. Low dose beta blockers help. I take a low dose propranolol on the days that I work. It cuts out some of the the physiological feedback loop that tachycardia has on the rest of your body and helps me maintain a more relaxed state. It also obliterates hand tremor for complicated procedures. My avg heart rate during my shift yesterday according to my Apple Watch was 57 with a range 51-79.
