Please, throw your life away...now, let me explain

Bye Bye Negative Thought #2:

“I’m throwing away my life if I...”

Have you had this thought? I’m throwing away my life if I…

  • Leave my practice

  • Leave medicine

  • Leave medicine before I pay off my student loans

  • Change careers

  • Do something that doesn’t require 7 years of schooling and then on-the-job training

  • Do something that doesn’t include the title “Dr.”

  • Choose a different career path that feels fun and exciting but doesn’t garner the same societal respect as medicine


What if we look at that thought, “I’m throwing away my life if…” in a different way?

Think about what we throw away: GARBAGE.

  • Where in your life do you feel like garbage right now?

  • Does your job make you feel like garbage?

  • Do the hours you work completely trash your body?

  • Does your boss make you feel disrespected?

What if you threw away the life that makes you feel like garbage?

Please, throw that life away. The life that feels horrible. The life that doesn’t allow you to be fully you. The life that isn’t serving you. Please throw that life away.

Any avenue that brings you happiness and joy is not a throwaway life. Any life that allows you to be more fully yourself and more fully present with your loved ones is not a throwaway life.

Here’s what I want you to hear, my dear friend: it’s okay to change.

In so many cases, “throwing your life away” can actually be the bravest, truest thing you can do.

I’ve done it.

I left my practice, even though they did not grant me a buyout of my noncompete clause.

I became a life coach, even though most of my doctor friends think it’s crazy.

And now I’m planning to leave my ER job, because I asked for some concessions that they refused.

I’ve “thrown my life away” a few times, but here’s what I’ve found:

The new version of my life is SO MUCH BETTER than staying where I was.

Every single time, it’s been better.

Do you have something in mind that excites you, but you tell yourself it would be “throwing away your life”? Sometimes you just need a neutral person to talk things through with! Book a free 60-minute colleague-to-colleague call. I’d love to talk to you about this!