Is Being a Doctor Really Your Calling? Here’s How to Find Out

Are you unsure how to discover your true calling? You are lost and disconnected from your passions and are longing for clarity and direction in your career.

In this episode you’ll learn why working in medicine is NOT your calling- and how to figure out what is.

After listening you’ll know:

• Why your calling can never be limited to a single title or job description
• The only way to actually know what your true calling is
• Four clear signs that indicate you are living your calling

Ready to uncover your true calling so you don’t have to keep feeling lost? Click play now to gain more clarity on what it is you are meant to do.

If you feel like the career you're in is not allowing you to express your calling. I got a free audio series for you. It's called diagnose your career unhappiness and it will help you pinpoint exactly. What's not working in your career so that you can figure out your next steps to finding and living out your calling.

Life After Medicine explores doctors' journey of finding purpose beyond their medical careers, addressing physician burnout, career changes, opportunities in non-clinical jobs for physicians and remote jobs within the healthcare system without being burned out, using medical training.

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Life After Medicine explores doctors' journey of finding purpose beyond their medical careers, addressing physician burnout, career changes, opportunities in non-clinical jobs for physicians and remote jobs within the healthcare system without being burned out, using medical training.

Transcript

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And this episode you'll learn why being a healthcare professional is not your true calling. And how to figure out what is. Welcome to Life After Medicine, the podcast helping millennial health professionals leave the system, find their purpose, and turn it into their paycheck. I'm your host, Chelsea Terjan. In 2019, I quit my OBGYN residency. I had this gut feeling there was something more for me than 15 minute patient visits under fluorescent lights. Now, I'm a six figure entrepreneur, podcaster, and career coach. I get to do work I love. On my own terms, all while traveling the world. My mission is to help you follow your pull towards something more so you can find work you enjoy that doesn't burn you out. Don't worry. It's not a pipe dream. I'm here to show you exactly how it's done. Thank you so much for pressing play today. In this episode you're going to learn. Why your calling can never be limited to a single title or job description. The only way to actually know what your true calling is. And for clear signs or indicators that you are living your calling. So let's get to the show. Working in medicine is often described as a calling. And sometimes this is to indoctrinate us and justify working really long hours. And sometimes. It's from people who. Truly feel this desire inside of them to help people. And it feels like there's something about putting on that white coat and going into the hospital. That's just like, oh, I meant to do this. That can feel like a nice romantic idea that, oh, this is my calling. To work in medicine to be a doctor. but that can also be problematic. So I remember one of my Facebook group members commented on something I shared about purpose and she said, but what if like being a doctor is your true calling your true purpose, but you just can't hang in the system anymore. And if that were true, that would feel devastating. Right. It's essentially like saying there's this thing I was put here on earth to do. But. I can't actually do it because of all of these obstacles in the system. And what that does is it makes you feel really helpless because there's all these things outside of your control that are preventing you from living your calling. That feels unfair, so the good news is that is never the case. So here is what I know to be true about callings after experiencing and living on my own. After four plus years, working with clients, helping them connect to theirs. Your calling is not confined to one job or one occupation. Also, when I use the word calling, I honestly use that word and purpose pretty interchangeably, calling purpose. It's essentially that thing you're here to do. So you can substitute and use whatever words or language you like in this episode, I'm going to use the word calling. So your calling is not confined to one job description or one occupation or one career path even. It's so much more flexible than that. When I teach this to my clients, there's sort of two elements for this. There is the essence of the thing you're here to do. And then there's the physical forms that it could take. And so the essence is the thing behind the thing. It's when you dial it down to the deepest level. What is the nature of the work you're here to do? This could be. To create safe spaces where people feel at ease to share their deepest truths. It could be to solve puzzles, to bring complex ideas together. To have breakthroughs and create connections that. Actually provide solutions for those problems, it could be to educate or to empower people. Those would be examples of the essence, right? So what is that thing underneath? and your essence can be expressed in so many different physical forms so let's say you're essence is to create those safe spaces where people feel at ease. So then a physical form that could take is, let's say you're a parent and you're creating the safe spaces for your kids. or you're doing this with your patients in that context of. You're doing it with your patients in the exam room, creating safe spaces, or maybe you're teaching and you're doing it with students, or maybe you're doing it with friends. The essence of the thing you're here to do can take on so many different physical forms. Which means you get to express your purpose across so many different contexts of your life. You get to live your calling, not just for the thing you're paid for. But all throughout other domains of your life as well. And so your calling can never be one job or One occupation, because your calling is so much deeper than that. And so the questions instead of asking, is working in medicine. My calling a better question would be. What is the essence? Of the work I'm here to do. And what are the different ways I can express that? And the thing about calling. And purpose that I love. And that is also kind of frustrating sometimes. Is it so beyond words, when we go through this exercise with my clients, we're always trying to come up with Like a tagline or a phrase. It's less important that you have a phrase on a piece of paper that identifies your calling. And more important. That you. Understand. What you're calling has something to do with. The reason we need to use language is to help you understand. Okay. Like my calling has something to do with educating it's, something to do with when I'm in. These one-on-one moments with people, and there's just this light that goes on in their eyes. Or there's this click moment we need to start using language that can help us get closer and closer to your calling. The only way to really know your calling, it's too. Be living in it through your actions. And that's how you start to identify it. That can feel so maddeningly vague, it's really this process of. distilling down into your essence and then getting to the heart of what that is. But I want to give you some helpful signs and indicators that you are living your calling. And this is what I've seen with clients. I know when they're getting closer and closer to their calling. Number one is they're glowing. There's this, um, the call like a Dharma glow. Cause you're living your Dharma. There's just this radiance. I notice it, when there's like this idea that they talk about, their eyes kind of laid up and their face just glow. It's really like this radiance and it's glowing. And it's hard for you to notice it. So that's something that usually other people will kind of witness within you that like, yeah. You're glowing. When you talk about it. It's because there's so much life energy there. That you just start to glow. Number two. The work of your calling. Is the reward itself. So if you need to be appreciated for it. If you need people to thank you. You're not living your calling. That's not it. Now. Let me be clear. You always deserve to be appreciated. You always deserve to be thanked. That is a hundred percent true. But when you're actually living your calling. Being thanked or appreciated doesn't even cross your mind. Because there's just this feeling of, I get to do this. It just doesn't cross your mind that other people need to thank you or appreciate you in a certain way, because you feel so full and complete. Doing the work. So in your calling the work itself, Is the reward. If you need people to thank you. It's not your colleague. Number three is you have this rage to master, and I have talked about this before. But you feel this internal drive? To improve. To learn. To grow, to understand all the facets of the topic. It feels like this kind of secret little hobby. Like you want to stay up late at night under the covers. Like learning everything you possibly can about this thing. It's coming from this internal desire to Excel. To just give. Excellent to the world. And there's so much energy there. You don't feel like you're learning because it's what you should be doing or because other people are telling you, you need to do it or get better, or like, what will people think of me if I can't do it? You just feel this internal drive to learn everything you possibly can about this to develop the skill as highly as you possibly can. It's just this rage to master. Number four. You are becoming your best self. In the process of pursuing it. Naturally. Effortlessly. When we're living our calling. We just naturally become. More and more of the person that we're proud of. And it's almost like without trying we just start to like glide or step into. That person we've always wished we could be. Because that's what your calling is doing. It's calling you more. Towards who you're meant to be. Not just in the area of the career of the calling, it kind of creates this 360. Process, there's that phrase like a rising tide lifts, all ships. And it's almost like when you find the thing in one area, it just elevates you in all these other areas. To continue pursuing my calling. I decided to give up alcohol. I. Take these steps out of my comfort zone. I create an entrepreneurial community. I explore spirituality. There's all of these things. That I've done. Just unintentionally. To become more of who I I'm meant to be. And it improves my life in so many areas, I just feel so good and proud of who I am. I had a client who he was in the process of pursuing his calling and. He was telling me like I'm sober now, the weight is just coming off. I'm like developing friends, I have community. And he's just noticing all of these other areas of his life that are getting better and better because he's. Following that call. He's expressing that essence within him. So being a doctor. Working in medicine. That can never be your calling because your calling is so much more than that. And your calling will never take you further away from yourself. It will never ask you to become less hold. Less human. Less. Vital. You're calling will never ask you to be less. Because it will only take you into expansion. So, if you're listening to this and you feel like the career you're in is not allowing you to express your calling. I got a free audio series for you. It's called diagnose your career unhappiness and it will help you pinpoint exactly. What's not working in your career so that you can figure out your next steps. To finding and living out your calling. So you can go to coach Chelsea md.com/diagnose. And start listening to the audio series now.