Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction Don’t ya just love those moments where you start out certain you know what to do, and then a quick pause to check that all systems are “go” gives you some unexpected clarity—and you realize you’re about to make a colossal blunder? Picture this—I’m wiling away a...
Category Archives: Long Form
You’re Part of the System Now: Burnout and Responsibility
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Some Final Thoughts on Burnout There’s a point in many high-stakes professional systems where the questions quietly shift. Early on, they tend to be personal:Why does this feel so hard? What’s happening to me? How do I get through this without losing something I can’t get back? That’s...
When Burnout Isn’t About Stress or Recovery
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Alignment, Identity, and the Limits of Fixing What Doesn’t Fit In the last installment, we followed burnout past the point where it could reasonably be treated as a private problem. Once responsibility for others enters the picture, the effects are no longer contained. They show up in judgment,...
Burnout’s Quiet Damage: Why It Matters Before Anyone Breaks
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction Burnout rarely announces itself with collapse. Most of the time, it arrives quietly—through gradually diminishing impact. Patience thins, and time isn’t spent on the investment in curiosity and connection. Imagination contracts, and robust interactions to spur innovation are no longer sought. Fewer questions get asked. Fewer risks...
Burnout Is a Wastebasket Term — and That’s Why We Keep Treating It Wrong
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Simplicity Is Seductive — and Dangerous “I’m burned out.” That sentence has become professional shorthand—an all-purpose signal for exhaustion, frustration, disillusionment, or quiet despair. It lands with emotional force and usually earns immediate empathy. And because it sounds definitive, we tend to treat it that way: problem named, response deployed....
The Beauty in the Dust: Growth in Imperfection
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Thresholds That Truly Change Us I’ve crossed plenty of thresholds in my life. Graduations, promotions, marriage, a few plaques on the wall. All those moments came and went, all important in their own way. Despite the cultural significance, and that many of these events are dear to many...
Living Richly Together: Perspective, Certainty, and the Ancient Problem We Keep Pretending Is New (Psychological Richness, Part 4)
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction In the third part of this series, I teased the idea of psychological richness applied beyond the individual. If richness is a mechanism to pursue personal growth, perspective shift, and learning, what if it is applied on a larger scale? Can richness be a mechanism to approach...
Living Richly: Music, Travel, Discomfort, and Growth in Tuscany
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction Greetings and Salutations! Welcome to the third installment in the psychological richness series. In Part 1, I introduced Shigehiro Oishi’s concept of a psychologically rich life—one filled with interesting, perspective-changing experiences. In Part 2, I put on my skeptic hat and reengaged the theory: praised what works, critiqued what doesn’t,...
Psychological Richness Part 2: Biases, Blind Spots, and the Postmodern Trap
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction When we left off, we’d mapped out the three dimensions of a good life—happiness, meaning, and psychological richness—and how each complements the others. Happiness comforts. Meaning guides. Richness changes. But now it’s time to ask a harder question: what happens when we turn the microscope back on the model itself?...
Psychological Richness Part 1 – Defining the Good Life: Happiness, Meaning, and Richness
Christopher J. Colombo MD, CEC, CMC, CPP Introduction I’d like you to consider a deceptively simple question: what makes a life good? This isn’t a new question. Plato warned that an unexamined life wasn’t worth living. Aristotle proposed that the good life was one of virtue and purpose. The Epicureans, by contrast, believed happiness came from...