Lean Out Podcast

Solocast: A Dream That Made Me Question My Path

• Dawn Baker • Season 1 • Episode 22

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Dawn Baker discusses how a recent dream had her questioning her unconventional path to work-life balance. She shares tips for the continuous practice of cultivating the confidence to lean out.

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Welcome to the lean out podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Don baker. Are you looking for a new approach to authentic and sustainable work-life balance? You've come to the right place. Listen as i interview amazing women professionals who've taken steps to lean out and find balance on their own terms Hello? Hello. Thanks for being here. Today, I'm going to tell you about a dream that I had that made me question my path to leaning out. But first, I want to remind you to go to my website, practice balance.com and subscribe to my newsletter. About once a week, maybe once every other week you'll get an email for me that has some inspirational articles, places that you can find me having conversations. Other than on my own. Website and on my own podcast, links to articles. Podcasts books that I've found inspiring. And of course. Lots of photos from my off-grid homestead in the mountains that we'll hopefully. Give you some inspiration and some beauty. During the fall months. So last night I had this dream. I was attending a conference with some of my other doctor blogger, coach, entrepreneur, friends. And the scene turned into my classic anxiety dream. I'm sure you can relate to this. I had to be somewhere. I had to meet some people. I don't remember the details, but I just couldn't make it there. Something kept holding me back. I lost my hotel room key. Then I needed to go to the bathroom. The cycle went on and on, and my friends were moving on without me. By far in a way, this is the most common, bad dream that I have. I need. To be somewhere and get something, but I'm unable to meet the task. Whenever I have a vivid dream like this, I think back to what was going on the night before, what was I recently doing or reading or watching that could have brought this dream on? Or maybe even just talking about with my family or my husband or a friend. And it turns out that right before I went to sleep, I happened to be scrolling social media. I know, I know this is a very bad practice. For many reasons. Yet. It's also one that sometimes I fall into from time to time, because I don't get around to checking my social media until the day is done. I don't love checking my social media. Except I do really like posting pictures of my property of pretty things that I see of inspiring things and trying to write something inspiring for people. And as an aside, whoever made up the rule that you need to. Be checking social media every day and engaging every day as an online business owner. I don't know where that came from, but I really don't like it. Anyway, I happened to see some photos and recaps of a recent conference that was attended by members of said, doctor crowd. And the conference was all about generating passive income with the premise that doctors should be finding avenues to make more money and build wealth. And I am not against this concept at all. I understand that our profession comes with a high debt burden and the hours of effort put into clinical work. Don't always match up to the practice salaries that are offered to us. Physicians suffering from burnout and a general feeling of stuckness often look to nonclinical means for making money so that they can make improvements to their work-life balance, like cutting back on clinical hours. But do they ever really find balance or do they just replace one type of job for another. Sometimes the answer is to take things away and not add for improved work life balance. What is enough in terms of achievements? And in terms of money. A few years ago, I was inspired by this same exact community to do more in a business sense with my long standing blog practice balance. I co-authored a book chapter with some other doctors. I went on people's podcasts and talked about my writing and I started doing speaking gigs. But I never really sold anything or pursued sponsorships other than doing the occasional Amazon affiliate link. Because I received several inquiries at a conference that I spoke at. I got involved with coaching, which I absolutely love doing. And I'm really grateful for all the connections that I've made. And the inspiration that I've received from this group of people. Creativity expert chase Jarvis argued on a podcast that I recently heard that promotion. Is part of the cycle of putting out creative work into the world. But my aim has never been to generate a substantial amount of revenue with my creations or with real estate or with any other type of business venture. Am I missing out by not jumping on the bandwagon of passive wealth building, whatever passive actually means. After a lot of inner work. I know myself well, and I have a clear vision of the kind of life I'm designing, but as evidenced by the fact that I had this dream. I think I'm subconsciously wondering. In contrast to this stream my day. Consisted of working with my daughter on her. Homeschooling lessons. Driving to our nearby town for her jujitsu practice and then meeting a group of moms, some with other kids in tow, at a house. Of another local homeschool mom. This woman's entire garage has been converted into a bouldering cave. The three walls and the ceiling are all peppered with climbing, holds of shapes, colors, and sizes in a vast variety. And the floor consists of one thick gymnastics mat. She opens the garage door and everyone comes and goes in an afternoon free for all. It's super fun. We do this every week and I look forward to it every time. Since my family left salt lake city and that vibrant climbing scene. I've missed having a close knit climbing community, and this fills that void. And then some. We take turns, trying hard chatting and spotting each other on the problems. We discuss everything from climbing moves to other fitness pursuits to our kids and our families and things that are going on there. Last week I missed the session because I was traveling for my monthly clinical work assignment out of town. But no one in the group asked about that. They just don't care. In this group. I am just another mom. I'm not a doctor. I'm not a work-life balance expert. Not a wealth builder or a business owner. And so here I am. Each foot in two different worlds. It can be uncomfortable sometimes, but I know that I can handle it and I have no regrets about the life I've chosen. Sometimes I think of phasing out my presence in the physician wellness space, because I don't really fit in with the in-crowd. But I continue to share on my own timetable and in my own way. Because I really do enjoy creating and teaching and inspiring other professionals to find and follow whatever unique vision they have for their own work-life balance. Despite, whatever other people around them are doing. And this way, the dream solidifies that I'm on the path that I'm meant to be on. It's hard to go against what other colleagues and friends are doing, whether it's working less, doing less, making less, or just being recognized less. So what are the keys to forging forward? And embracing your own journey. Well, the first thing is self knowledge, knowing your values, your why having conviction and knowing what you want. The second is self-awareness examining the rules. You're following the thoughts that you have that may not be aligning with that path and tackling, limiting beliefs. Head on. And the third is challenging yourself to spend more time in stillness. Try and adopt different mindfulness techniques that work for you and let the clarity develop as you continue this practice. It really does take confidence and conviction to lean out. And while these things can be cultivated, they must constantly be practiced. My questions for you today in partying. Are, do you ever feel like that you spend time in two different worlds? How do you feel about this? And how do you go about building your confidence Thanks for listening to the lean out podcast. If you find these conversations inspiring and useful, please forward them to a friend and also leave a review on iTunes or Spotify so that other people can find them easier. If you want to get in touch with me, you can find me at my website, practice balanced.com, where you can subscribe to my newsletter and get updates regularly about new podcast episodes, blog posts, speaking, engagements, and coaching services. You can also support my work by buying my book, lean out a professional woman's guide to finding authentic work-life balance for yourself, a friend, family member, or coworker. Have a great day and we'll see you next time