So You Think You Need A New Job...

Author: Lisa Chu, M.D.

"One cannot alter a condition with the same mind set that created it in the first place." - Albert Einstein

I'm guessing you showed up on this website because things have reached a certain point in your life. The system of clinical medicine just isn't doing it for you anymore. Or maybe it's even more vague than that - just a feeling that you aren't living your right life.

I'm guessing that you've reached the end of your rope, and you feel like you have to find a way out of your current situation. Something MUST change. Now.

I love meeting people when they are at this kind of crossroads in their lives. I've found that only when the messages of pain - physical, emotional, or mental - get intense enough do some of us stop to really listen.

Normal, everyday suffering - the kind we willingly put up with just to get through our days - does not jolt us awake. Each of us has a different threshold for tolerating this kind of suffering. We may not even know that we are suffering.

The Difference Between Advice and Coaching

Author: Lisa Chu, M.D.

Have you ever sought someone's advice, and then realized halfway into the conversation that you really didn't want them to tell you what to do?

Or have you ever followed someone's advice, which never quite felt right to you, but they were in a position of authority or had done it themselves before, and you didn't know how to get out of it?

Have you ever wished you had more trust in yourself, and didn't need to rely on so much advice from other people?

It's been ten years now since I've set foot in a traditional academic institution. Yesterday I stood inside the walls of a venerable one right here in my own backyard.

And it struck me that there is A LOT of "advising" going on at the formative stages of a lot of smart people's lives. A lot of people who are very curious, very bright, very capable, and very imaginative. But who just don't know. So they ask. They seek advice.

First Things First: Ask The Right Questions

Author: Lisa Chu, M.D.

"Start close in,
don't take the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don't want to take."

David Whyte, "Start Close In"

So you know you want to leave medicine. What should you do? Who should you talk to? Where can you go for help?

Joe Kim has assembled and is building an amazing community right here online. These days, the internet is the quickest and most abundant way to make connections with people who have very specific interests, especially ones that aren't talked about in social settings or at work (like leaving medicine).

There is a huge amount of great information, advice, and resources to comb through. This is an amazing gift. Sift through it all, and see what catches your interest.

But before you slip into panic mode and think, "How am I going to pay off my student loans? How will I send my children to private preschool? How will I afford a Chinese AND a French nanny AND violin lessons? What about health care reform? What about the economy? What about EGYPT??", I invite you to take my mini quiz.

There's no Kaplan review course, there's no answer key, there's no standard deviations to judge your results on. This quiz is for your heart and your spirit, parts of you that may have been sleeping since you were three years old, but have always been alive, waiting for you to listen.

Standing At A Threshold With Courage

Author: Lisa Chu, M.D.

"Sometimes
if you move carefully
through the forest,
...
you come
to a place
whose only task

is to trouble you
with tiny
but frightening requests,
...

Requests to stop what
you are doing right now,
and

to stop what you
are becoming while you do it"

David Whyte, "Sometimes"

If you're reading this, you may be standing at a threshold in your life. You may have your feet on the ground, but your heart may be pulling you, inexplicably, toward the open space in front of you.

You may be looking out over a ledge, clinging to your foothold, perhaps trembling with fear as you glance quickly down into the chasm.

If only I knew the answer, you might be thinking to yourself. If only I knew which way to go, how to stay safe, who has gone here before, and who might be a reliable guide.

If you're reading this, you are on a search for something. It may appear to you that you just need to find another job. You may just be focused on finding another way to pay the bills. Or you may be feeling like your whole life is falling apart, since everything you’ve built it upon no longer makes sense.

At times like these, it’s easy to feel that you are surrounded by people who are nothing like you, and who don't understand what you're going through.

I'm joining this conversation, started by Joe Kim, because, ten years after leaving medicine, I am finally beginning to feel like I have something to say. I am finally beginning to value my own story, and to accept myself for exactly who I am.

Are your obstacles real?

This is a guest post by Dr. Lisa S. Chu.

Are your obstacles real?

Today I was asked by an interviewer to describe the greatest obstacle I’ve faced since deciding to leave medicine. I responded, “The fear of disappointing other people.”

As I said it, I realized that this “obstacle” has felt very real to me at various times in my life. But when I look at it now, I can see that this fear is no more than a simple thought. In my mind is the story, “I can’t disappoint other people.” Why? “Because it will mean that I’m a bad person.” And why is that bad? “Because bad things happen to bad people.” And so on.

When I count the number of times I know that I have disappointed people, and imagine the number of times that I don’t even know about, it’s amazing to notice that I’m still alive and well, sitting here typing on a keyboard! The point is, when we examine our deepest fears, we will discover that they are no more than simple, unexamined thoughts.