2 common things I hear from doctors who are unhappy in their career:
"๐ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ - ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ง ๐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ?" ๐ฅบ
"๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฐ." ๐ฅบ
The thing is, it is much harder to start untangling yourself from a place of regret about a decision made many years ago, than it is to start with where you're at today. Starting from now enables you to work out your forward direction much more quickly - I guess it's just less of a distance?
So, to address those 2 themes in turn:
I shouldn't have done medicine - what if I make the same mistake again?
I always recall some advice I received from an experienced GP when I started doing my GP training:
๐๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ท๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต. ๐๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ (๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด) ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ง๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฃ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ.
Great advice, right?
And, of course, it doesnโt just apply to clinical decisions, it applies to all decision-making, including career decisions.
I donโt know your particular reason(s) for going into medicine, and it may or may not still hold true for you today. But you also have the benefit of much more time and experience now. If youโre not happy with your medical career today, that doesnโt mean it was the โwrongโ decision; it was a decision made based on the knowledge available to you and your situation at the time, both of which will no doubt have changed since then.
Your starting point now is not all those years ago when you applied to medical school โ your starting point is TODAY.
Yes, there will undoubtedly be helpful information in your work history to give you clues as to what you might like to consider as you more forward from here, but the motivation to seek this out is purely to inform your onward journey, not to berate yourself and give it the power to keep you stuck.
So chuck out the unfocused retrospectoscope โ it is not serving you.
I donโt know where to go.
This is so common amongst doctors who have been on something of a conveyor belt for years. And that conveyor belt can be really reassuring and feel good if youโre enjoying what you do; if youโre not, it can start to feel very restrictive and quite discombobulating because you realise that, having faced purely ahead for most of your time on it, you havenโt really needed to use your peripheral vision and a bit of disuse atrophy has snuck in.
The good news is that you can get back that peripheral vision! And sometimes that may result in you deciding to stay within medicine, or it may be that you decide to explore other avenues and step away.
Either way, itโs energising in itself to get back full vision, and to know that you ALWAYS have choice.
And then doing some work to understand yourself and what YOU need (not what your colleague or neighbour needs) helps you build a compass to clarify your onward career direction.
So donโt allow either of those 2 statements to keep you stuck. Instead, how about switching them out for:
๐ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต, ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ช๐ตโ๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐โ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฎ๐บ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ซ๐ฐ๐บ/๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ซ๐ฐ๐บ, ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ช๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ? ๐ค
Too wordy? OK, how about:
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ง ๐ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ซ๐ฐ๐บ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ณ? ๐