Don’t let what you do stop you from doing what you love. That may sound a bit trite, even cliche, but the sad truth is most of us don’t spend our days doing what we love. We spend our days just getting by.

What Do You Do?

As much as we want to do the “good” stuff, we focus on making ends meet. We work to put food on the table and a roof over our heads. Some of us go so far as to take on several jobs, maybe two, three, or more part-time positions, to earn enough to support our loved ones. Others have one job, a career, a profession, but become so consumed by it they don’t leave time for anything else.

It’s easy to let our our job(s) take over and even easier to say we need to do it. After all, those bills don’t pay themselves. What we need is more complex than that. We need on a physical level (food and water), of course, but on an emotional one too.

What we really need is balance. That means pursuing those things we are passionate about, and if that is the “work” we do, even better! We need to leave room for those things that motivate us, drive us, and inspire us. For me, that means chasing my writer’s dream.

If you don’t have time for anything but work, where is the you in your life?

Being a Doctor

On America’s Got Talent in 2017, we were privileged to meet a young 29-year-old family medicine resident named Brandon Rogers. He sang his heart out to a Stevie Wonder song. With the vocals of a young John Legend, he won over the crowd. It was no surprise the judges voted him into the next round. Unfortunately, he would never get the chance; he was killed in a car accident before the next show.

Something judge Simon Cowell said during that episode caught my attention. After all his years of judging on America’s Got Talent, Britain’s Got Talent, and the X Factor, he said a doctor had never auditioned before. Is it that doctors don’t have talent? No, it’s that doctors rarely feel they can show their other sides to people.

As you know, I am a family doctor. People who know me well, see me as a multi-faceted quirky woman. I am loyal and passionate. I am a writer who runs on tea and chocolate. Patients, however, do not always know that about me.

Society often puts doctors behind a one-dimensional veil. They think of them as serious, objective, and restrained. As professionals, they have to be formal. They are there to serve and help others. Years of training means they must put their profession first. They cannot be emotional or playful. Worse, they have to know all the answers.

I am ashamed to admit I once fell in line with those expectations, choosing career over self. Society can do that to you, brainwash you so that your priorities shift from what matters most. Society’s expectations can even make you forget who you are.

Who Am I?

I am more than a doctor.

Growing up, I was a storyteller. I still am.

In elementary school, I wrote poems. My mom may remember a poem about an onion crying (cute, right?) that she posted on our refrigerator for months on end. In junior high school, I wrote stories about my classmates. Those words allowed me to come out of my shell and be less introverted. In high school, my best friend Laurie and I wrote what we lovingly called “scenarios”, where we put ourselves in outlandish situations and adventured our way out.

In college, nothing. My writing stopped. My focus shifted to the work of becoming a doctor. Those had to be my priorities. Everything else had to be put aside. I attended medical school, completed my residency program, and practiced clinical medicine. I helped people and even saved some lives. It is rewarding to know I made a difference in the lives of others.

Still, it is a shame I left my full heart behind all those years ago. Writing was a big part of who I was, but I lost my light in a fog of responsibility and expectations.

Fifteen years, it would take me that long to find my way back. All it took was a writing competition I entered in 2008. I even won it. Renewed, I gave myself permission to write again.

When all is said and done, being a doctor does not define who I am. Mother, wife, friend, advocate, consultant, runner, teacher, writer, no single role defines me. Call me a potpourri of individuality gathered into a one of a kind bouquet. There is no one like me, and there’s no one like you either. Stay true to that. Stay true to you.

Don’t let what you do stop you from doing what you love. I learned the hard way.