Ep 1: Who is a Dare to Dream Physician?

Who can become a Dare to Dream Physician?  We'll talk about the three qualities that every physician can cultivate in order to live a life of their dreams sooner than they ever imagined.

Transcript

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Welcome to the first episode of the dare to dream physician podcast. I'm so excited. You're here to join us today. We will start with who is a dare to dream physician. Are you a dare to dream physician? Would you like to become more? I'm going to start with a story, a decade, give it a go. I was sitting in a room with my husband. We were in a personal finance course. We were in front of a group of people. Many of them were families around our age with young kids, just like us. I looked around the room and I realized that I was the only physician. I was a resident at the time. I was wondering to myself, is anyone here going to understand what we're struggling with that evening? We went over a video together as a group. The video was about tackling debt. In the video, the message was, if you have debt, the solution is simple. You either decrease your living expenses, or you increase your earnings by working more. Get a second job. When the group leader asked us to share our thoughts, I couldn't help, but raise my hand. I wanted to share our burdens with them. I wanted them to know that perhaps this simple solution doesn't work for everybody. So I told them I don't see how I can work anymore. I don't see how we can cut any expenses. We simply don't have any energy left at the end of the day to do any of this. We're just really struggling or feeling the weight of my student loan debt, which at the time was over a quarter million dollars. And most of it compounding at 6.8% interest. We're feeling the burnout from my long work hours, not just showing up for work, but also call and all the hours needed to spend studying. And I'm feeling tired. I don't get enough sleep. I don't have time to exercise. I don't have any energy to. Spend quality time with my husband and my son. And I felt guilty that my husband has to become the default single dad. And I felt guilty that my mom had a health scare. I couldn't be there for her because all I could do was to hold it together enough so that I could show up for work. I pour my heart out. And the very well-meaning course leader said something that I will never forget. He said, the good thing is you are a physician and you have a higher earning potential than most of us. So, whatever problems you feel now, you're really going to be okay. As he was saying this, I was processing what he said. I was feeling uneasy with the answer, but I didn't say anything back on the inside. I thought, I don't know if I can be a physician. I don't know if I can keep doing this. I don't know if I could keep sacrificing my family and continuing to make the rest of my family suffer just so I could hold it together to show up at work, to study, to finish my residency. I didn't even know if I could stay the course to earn this supposedly high income potential. Yet, none of these doubts, none of these anxieties really meant anything to the outside world because the external world has blinders on about who I am as a physician. And I don't blame them. At one point, I had the same blinders on about physicians, myself. I had thought physicians or a group of people that are really going to be fine, that they're earning a high income and they're well-respected by society. They have job security. Of course, none of these things feel true when I was struggling to hold it together. None of these things feel true. To a physician who walks into work every day and feels moral injury. None of these things feel true when a physician doesn't feel respected or valued by their institution, none of these things feel true. When a physician who sacrificed so many years to gain the skills and expertise to treat patients are being told by hospitals that they're no longer needed, that their expertise is replaceable. And it was in that moment, I realized that part of the burden of being a physician. Not only did I question whether I could continue on the track that I was on? Not only did I keep wondering what was at stake, if I couldn't continue that overwhelming amount of debt, I would have to shoulder. And yet the one other burden that I will carry is the world is not going to sympathize with me because I'm set as a physician. And so I carried on that day, but I felt more isolated than ever. I felt less hopeful than ever, and I felt more lonely than ever. My fellow physicians, if that doctor from 10 years ago can become a dare to dream physician. So can you daring to dream and create your most abundant life? Isn't based on external circumstances, it's an attitude, a mindset, a drive that is available to you. This is a learnable skill, just like training to be a doctor, except it's so much easier. So let's talk about who is a dare to dream physician. first as a dare to dream physician. You deep dive into Euro. Why you spend time with yourself? You prioritize your well-being. You take care of yourself. Nurture yourself. You nourish your body and your mind, you spend time tending to your own physical and mental health. You allow yourself quiet moments to unwind, to meditate, to practice, self compassion, to value, and to know yourself. You plant seeds, you give nourishment, you observe the life force that lies deep within. You're not afraid to ask. What is the most important to you? You look at yourself with curiosity. A lifelong curiosity. You don't have to scan around the room, hoping to find your passions written somewhere on the wall. You're not asking others what you should care about. You're not asking your practice manager, your medical director, or your CEO, what your most essential goals in life should be. You know, that deep within your soul lies your humanity and in your humanity, you have a purpose and you have passions. That make you alive. You also know what shapes the person you are today is a mixture of painful and joyful experiences. You have wisdom from your years, living as a human being from your years, training and practicing as a physician and the pain that you have, although it feels easier to just run away from that pain. You can see the value of facing that pain, getting to the other side of that pain, you know, that you will find something strong and beautiful. So as a dare to dream physician, you're going into your inner most being to find what drives you, how do you want to live your life? And you're doing this. So when you are on your death bed, You can say to yourself while done a life, well lived a life full of meaning a life of my own. secondly, as a dairy dream physician, you embrace growth. You recognize. That what you are today, doesn't limit who you will become tomorrow or the next year or the next decade. You realize that decision to grow. Isn't based on your circumstances, that decision to grow is available to you. 24 seven. You don't have to wait for something else to fall into your lap. You see the freedom in making the choice to grow. And you are also honest with yourself. You are also honest with your own emotions. You embrace your own emotions and those emotions can include yes. Fear that sensation. In the pit of your stomach, you move forward with growth while recognizing that you fear you realize to grow is to be outside of your comfort zone. And so to grow, you embrace fear and you choose to act despite having fears, you choose to move toward your dreams, despite feeling fear and doubt. And you learn that these feelings signal to you, that you're exactly where you're supposed to be outside of your comfort zone. So you can grow, you can start happy. A growth mindset also means you choose to have an internal locus of control. You embrace the things that you can control. You don't have to wait for someone to give you permission to grow. You don't need to wait for outside conditions to be met. You see the resources under your control, and these can include your mind, your heart, your behaviors, your beliefs, your convictions, and you recognize that these are enough. To achieve your own astounding growth. You recognize when you practice moving toward your goals with conviction, moving toward your goal with energy from deep, within on an hourly, a daily, a monthly, a yearly basis, that growth will compound to the point where you will be able to achieve impossible dreams. thirdly, as a dare to dream physician, you are driven to help others and you practice generosity. You cultivate an abundance mindset. You know, that to succeed is to take a long view. You focus on the long-term results. Yes, it may be easy to achieve short-term selfish gains, but by being more generous by serving others, you are able to create long lasting positive results. You realize that life isn't a zero sum game. When you've done the work to nurture and center yourself, you start having a lot more to offer others. You start having an abundance flow out of you. You no longer feel defensive or guarded. You start to want to serve and give from a place of overflow. It becomes a joy to give. It becomes joyful, to see others receive and see others gain. You have confidence that your assets will grow faster. When you let go of yourself, interests, you start to see another's win. Is your win. Recognize that you don't have to be naturally gifted with a generous spirit or born into a family imprinted with an abundance mindset. You may have had many life experiences that would feed into a scarcity mindset. Perhaps you were taking advantage of perhaps you were surrounded by people. Who are driven only by self-serving interests, where reality felt very much like you have to fend for yourself where life is dictated by a fear of losing out where you felt prompted to stake a claim to the little that's remaining. You, you let go, you let go of the fear of losing out. You let go of the question. What if someone takes advantage of me now, you're not naive. You still keep boundaries and you live intentionally. You keep the vision of the things that are most important to you in life, and you still are reaching for those goals. But when you do give. You give from a place of joy, you give from a place of strength, confidence, and abundance Because you also have a growth orientation, you realize. You can cultivate an abundance mindset by practicing acts of generosity. You practice generosity on a daily basis, which compounds over weeks, months, and years by becoming more generous. You cultivate this spirit and others, you attract more generosity, and then you start living in a world where abundance feels like the norm. Physicians one of generosity. I like you to start practicing now is to lift up other physicians. I want you to help your fellow physicians dare to dream and make those dreams come true. Physicians are your tribe. They are the ones who felt the calling to pursue medicine. And while it was a difficult and long road, they're also the ones that signed up to be in medical school to go through residency and fellowship physicians have the deepest desire to serve, to heal and to provide the highest standards of care to patients. You believe physicians are a group of people. The society needs to invest in. Remember that physicians signed up to be present in the room when a life is born into the world, when a life needs to be saved. And when a life is fading away, they sign up to be present. Bearing the ultimate responsibility in the room, bearing the ultimate responsibility for a life. Society needs physicians to continue being present, making a difference when they're in that room, society also needs physicians to be present when they step outside of that room because they carry their remarkable experiences out to the world to advocate for patients to advocate for the best health care and to advocate for the betterment of our society. So go ahead, start practicing generosity by lifting up a fellow physician because their win is your win. Okay. So there we have it, the three qualities of a dare to dream physician. Number one is to know yourself. You get to know yourself by spending time with yourself, by practicing self-compassion by practicing self care, by nurturing your passions and by believing in your own value by investing in yourself. Number two is grow yourself. You believe that you can become more than you are today, that by having goals and having dreams, you can find a way to move towards those dreams and to look forward rather than focusing on the things that didn't go right in there past growing yourself, you learn to embrace your fears. You learn to walk alongside your fears rather than giving up. Number three. Let abundance flow out of yourself. You practice being generous. And in turn you create a world that is more giving and in turn you achieve more yourself while helping more physicians escape a life of overwhelm and unfulfillment, you help other physicians also live their dreams. Fellow physicians. I created this podcast for you to give you the permission to give you the space, to give you the courage. So you can dare to dream and create a life that is authentically yours. So you can start living that life now rather than wait 20 or 30 years until your retirement. Because I believe in you, I believe in the beautiful vision you will uncover when you dive deep within, I can sense the vitality you will gain and the impact you will make. I cannot wait to see you take back control of your life and live with passion and intention. When you find your meaning and bring it into your life and into the world. You will leave an incredible legacy. I know you can do it and I cannot wait to see you do it. I hope you choose to become a dare to dream physician. The choice is available to you 24 seven start now.