Why Most Doctors Feel Lost During a Career Change and How to Fix It.

Are you lost in the grind, unsure of what’s next, and questioning if you’ll ever find work that truly fulfills you?

If you’re a doctor struggling with burnout, feeling disconnected from your "why," and caught in the trap of going through the motions without joy or direction, this episode is for you. Discover how to break free from the disorientation and reignite your purpose.

In this episode, you’ll:

• Recognize whether you’re feeling stuck or lost and the distinct steps needed to address each.
• Discover how to reconnect with your purpose through intuitive and reflective practices, giving you clarity and direction in your career
• Gain a clear vision for integrating your strengths and passions into a meaningful, burnout-proof career.

Ready to stop feeling lost and start living with purpose? Hit play now to uncover the exact steps you need to take to reclaim your joy and career direction!

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

0:29

In this episode, you'll learn how to connect back to your purpose when you're feeling lost. Let's get to the show. 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 Turgeon. 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. What we're going to talk about today are the two main reasons that you're struggling to find work that feels meaningful one is you feel lost. That's what we'll talk about today. And the other is that you feel stuck and they're related, and they're similar, and they have to do with each other, but they are separate and distinct problems and entities, and so the solution, what we need to do to kind of work through it, is distinct for each of those, so it is really helpful to identify which one am I dealing with right at this moment because process that we go through to solve that for you is going to be different. And so that's what we're going to do is I want to walk through like, how do you recognize if you're feeling more lost? How do you recognize if you're feeling more stuck? And then I also want to give you a checklist for like what you need to do to move through that so that you can start finding work that feels more meaningful. So let's talk about signs that you are feeling lost. We'll go into like what you're thinking, what you're doing, and just kind of what is actually happening when you're feeling lost. So when you're feeling lost, you are thinking things like, I don't even know what I want anymore. Right? Like how do I find that thing that I'm supposed to do? You're also questioning yourself. You're like, did I choose the wrong career? Did I just mess up somewhere down the line? Also, is there something wrong with me? Like, shouldn't I just be grateful for the work that I have? This is a really noble career. Like, this is such an honor. I'm saving lives. People would kill to be here. I should just be more grateful for what I have. You're also questioning, like, if I don't like this, is there anything that I would like? is there anything that I do like? And so you're not really feeling. A sense of drive or passion or interest and you're like, maybe I'm just one of those people. That's kind of like a dud a bump on a log. it's a very like existential moment, right? You're feeling lost. There's a lot of disorientation that can come along with it. You're questioning yourself, kind of judging yourself in a sense and There's nothing else that you really want to be doing you're not really pulled by any passion or interest you're just Feeling like I don't like this. It's very much the not this phase which is a super Important phase to kind of start to acknowledge. So those are signs you're feeling lost just like in your brain But then there's also things that you're doing when you're lost and one of the things I did all the time when I was feeling lost is sad girl journaling. You guys know what I'm talking about. If you are a journaler and you're in this phase, it's writing just sort of that. Whoa, it's me like, whoa, is my life. Everything's wrong. I don't know like what to do. It's, it's sort of like just writing your sad girl story over and over again in your journal. So sad girl journaling definitely happens when you're feeling lost. You also spend a lot of your downtime. Watching Netflix, just kind of binging different Netflix shows. having, I would do a lot of endless Instagram scrolling, even some like online shopping. I think I like redecorated my apartment. Like there's like a void, there's this lack of meaning and fulfillment and you're trying to fill it. but you really just feel lost. And so there is a lot of behavior that you're doing to kind of numb that feeling. And also just to kind of, because you're also so exhausted from work and burnout that you're, you don't really have the energy to actively seek anything. you also tend to have a lot of what I call them like career escape fantasies. And so this is not, this distinct from like a desire. This is not you being like, Oh, I wish I could write a book or I wish I could travel the world. Right. This is not a real desire. That's coming from a place of like, Like this is something I want to do. I want to open up a bookshop and have people just be cozy and read all the time or like, it's not that, that's different. This is like an escape fantasy, This is you being like, what is the thing I could do to just get out of here? Right? So one of the things I would dream of is driving off into the desert of Utah and becoming a park ranger. Like I had. A dog at the time. So I was like, I'm just going to bring champion. We're going to get in the car and just drive to Utah and escape. And that's not in line with anything I ever wanted to do. So that's like, it's an escape fantasy. Not just because I'm getting in a car, not because I'm being a park ranger. It's an escape fantasy because it's just me trying to get out. the other kind of escape fantasies I've had people tell me one, one person I talked to this PA, she, would watch out the window. as like she's in clinic and she would look out the window at the people mowing the lawn and like doing the lawn work and she was like, I wish I could be them because then at least they get to go home at the end of the day, like their job feels more simple. It feels easier. Not maybe it is or not. but you're just feeling like, uh, anything is better than this, right? It's sort of that mentality. Like anything will be better than this. I've had people have like that barista fantasy, right? You're going to pick up your coffee and you're like, Oh my God, I wish I could just be like working at Starbucks. I wish I could just kind of be a barista because that feels like it's a less stressful job. And for the most part, when you're having these escape fantasies, it's not because you have this lifelong dream of doing that thing. It's more like you're just trying to find a way to Any alternative that's better than where you are right now because you just don't love where you are right now. another thing you'll do trying to sort of find those alternatives is you're aimlessly Googling, like what else can I do with my medical degree? And you're kind of doing this just to see what else is out there. Like, is there something better you could be doing? Is there something else that you kind of miss that you could switch to? You're not actively searching. jobs that you're interested in or excited about. It's just this, lost, disoriented, like looking for something, you're trying to grab onto something, but nothing really feels right. Seems right. it's just so disorienting. And I have completely been there. I've worked with clients who have been there. I am so familiar with this disoriented, lost state. And what this means, if you recognize yourself in any of this, if you have been thinking these thoughts, doing these actions, if any of this sounds like you is it means you're lost. And you probably know that to some extent, but let's go a little bit deeper. What does that mean? If you're lost, what it comes down to is you're disconnected from your purpose. And so what that means is the solution is reconnecting to your purpose. But let's go back first into it means that you're disconnected from your purpose. And so what's going on here? There's a couple different things happening. One is you've probably lost sight of why you went into medicine in the first place. There is this big, what I call expectations hangover because there's this huge expectations versus reality gap. So you went into medicine to help people. You went into medicine to make a difference, to heal, to just like help restore people to health and wellness. And now you show up at work every day and you're more clicking boxes in an EMR you're feeling like. Something is missing. And even if you are helping people, right, you probably are objectively helping people. You're probably very good at what you do. You get lots of positive reinforcement that you're so good at what you do, it just feels like you're going through the motions, even though you're technically helping people, it feels empty. It feels like something's missing. It feels like This is not quite it. And you might have moments or like glimpses of like, Ooh, it's this, this is how I want to help people. When you're like having a deep conversation with a patient and their family and you're feeling really connected. but when you look at the most of your day, like the large percentage of your day feels like you're going through the motions and you're not getting to experience the fulfillment of why you went into medicine in the first place. So it's like something's missing. You've lost that. Of why you did this, the reality of the day to day work of medicine. Isn't really what you expected and you don't feel that sense of purpose. And then you also feel guilty about that because you're like, well, this is supposed to be great. Why am I not feeling like it's great? So that's one part of it. Another part of it is you have lost yourself. Right through the years of training there's a couple different areas where you've lost yourself. One is just like from the hustle life that you've been living. Right? So through the years of training, you have probably had to make sacrifices in different hobbies that you used to enjoy creative pursuits. spending time with friends, you probably had to miss. Weddings or birthdays or special events and occasions. or you just don't get to show up as regularly or you're not as present as you'd like to be. So you've sort of lost. Sight of last touch with like who you are in relationships with people. and you also have lost just pieces of yourself that used to really make you who you are. And you've been so focused on achieving this end goal and this end destination that you've really sacrificed a lot of pieces of you in the process. And like, you had to. Right? I'm not saying you like, Oh, you should have just done more and been more well rounded. Like, no, that's not it. You literally had to in order to get through training, but now you're feeling the consequences of it. And it feels like you've just lost yourself. Like you've lost, like I lost my sense of humor when I was working in medicine. I'm like, so funny. I say this, I don't know if you're allowed to say that you're yourself is funny, but like, I really am. And I love laughing. I love making light of things and making people laugh. And I lost that part of me. I mean, not completely, but I lost it for a big part in when I was in medicine going through training. Cause you're just sort of stifling and you're suppressing and you're just becoming honestly like less and less human as well because you you're witnessing so much pain. This is a whole nother topic, but I won't get into that. so the other thing is that, uh, You've not, you know, you haven't just lost parts of yourself because you've been working so hard or like had to like dedicate so much and devote so much to this career path, but you also have been conditioned and indoctrinated into putting on this mask of professionalism. So along the way of medical training, you have probably been told something that you do naturally, some part of you is like not really acceptable as a doctor. Or as a nurse practitioner, right? You've been told maybe you dress too Too crazy and bold and you need to like tone it down and like I remember even going shopping for suits for med school and I was like in this store and there were so many cute options and But I was conditioned because my pre med advisor told me like you need to wear a white or light blue In a dark colored blazer. Like there's not room for like personality and how you dress. And there's certain ways of like interacting with patients that need to be professional. And so you've been also indoctrinated to put on this sort of mask of professionalism is what I call it. It's essentially like we're putting on this mask of professionalism because that's what we have been indoctrinated to, to be like, this is what being a doctor is supposed to be. You're supposed to look like this, dress like this, act like this. And, um, You're supposed to be really formal with your patients, you're not supposed to laugh or joke in this way, like there's all different versions of it, but like likely you have been told or implicitly explicitly been shown that like some part of who you are is not actually how you're supposed to act when you're in that doctor patient relationship. So you have been suppressing parts of you. What that all adds up to. You're disconnected from yourself. You're disconnected from why you went into medicine in the first place. And really the whole thing that this all adds up to is you're disconnected from your purpose. And that's why you feel lost. Right? It's like you're in the woods, walking, and your compass is lost. doesn't work anymore. It's like broken. You don't know which way is north, which way you don't, I don't know how to use a compass to navigate if you can't tell, but you don't have any way to like navigate to where you are, where you want to go. Like there's just no sense of direction and you're just completely lost. And so what you have to do in that sense is connect back to your purpose. And if we're using this compass analogy, which could be a really poor analogy. But it's like finding what is the true north of the compass, because once you connect back to your purpose and you find this true north, you can navigate yourself anywhere, right? So you've connected back to your compass, your purpose, you have this true north so you can look and you can know, this is the right direction. Or you can turn right. And you're like, Oh, this is. This is the wrong direction. This is going to take me further away from north, even though you still maybe don't know exactly where you are yet, right? You still might be in a place you don't recognize a place that's foreign and there's still a lot of things you don't know. But if you have connected back to your purpose, you at least know which way to turn and which direction to start walking in, right? Even if there's still a lot of unknowns, you can start to have a sense of, okay, I got it. This is where I need to go. Like I'm here. This is where I need to start going. This is the direction I need to start moving in, right? And so that's what happens when you're connecting back to your purpose and that might seem like a really big vague thing. Oh, like just connect back to your purpose. Cool. Sounds great. I make it so simple. Within my program pathway to purpose. it's really this streamlined soul searching process of getting back in touch with your purpose And it comes down to two main pieces. One is intuition where you're learning how to Connect into your heart to your gut to that part of you That is like your truth like the part of you that Just knows what you want and you have to learn how to connect to your desires and joy and all of these pieces Right, so it's this deep deep Inner work of connecting to your intuition. And then there's also this kind of self reflection journaling process as well, where you're writing and you're asking yourself some really important questions to identify, like what matters to you, you specifically, what are you best at? What are like your unique strengths, the things that you give that nobody else gives. And those usually come so easily to you. That you don't know that they're straight, right? So we have to go through a process to recognize them. What type of work brings you joy? What makes you come alive? Who do you want to help? And like, how do you want to help them? And so it's answering these questions through journaling process and also connecting back into your intuition. That is how you start to connect back to your purpose. And when you connect to your purpose. You have clarity. It feels like the lights are on. You're not in the dark anymore. You're not wandering around aimless. You have clarity. You have a clear vision for how to integrate your passions and the things you enjoy your fitness, your wellness, your meditation, whatever it is into your career. You also gain clarity on how your strength. Strengths can best be used in a meaningful work setting. Like how do you use your strengths to meaningfully help people? You also will feel excited and re energized about your future. Like you've come alive again, you'll wake up with a smile on your face and it just feels like life has meaning and purpose again. If you are feeling lost and you want to connect back to your purpose and you want to make 20, 25 the year that you actually start doing meaningful work. I would love to support you. I currently have a few one-to-one spaces open for my coaching program pathway to purpose, we have some great December specials and deals for you. So you can click the link in the show notes to learn more.