386: Cycle of Grief with Dr. Debbie Bradley
Explicit content warning
09/19/22 • 47 min
When staring burnout straight in the face, we can sometimes feel the push to jump off of the ledge and leave medicine in the dust.
So why don’t we?
In this episode, I chat with the amazing Dr. Debbie Bradley and her experience with walking away from medicine and her shift into something that brought her so much more gratification.
However, the process of walking away from a practice that you’ve been invested in for years is never easy and it is one that I often equate to the cycle of grief. For many of us, medicine is something that we’ve devoted a large chunk of our lives to, and the idea of leaving that behind - although it is gratifying - comes with a bit of a mourning process as we say goodbye and transition to the next chapter.
By allowing ourselves to experience the cycle of grief and feel all the feels that it brings with it, you open the door to finding your identity in who you actually are as opposed to what you’re doing. As doctors, we have to identify ourselves without our practice and that is very difficult after you have dedicated your time to becoming a doctor in your field of practice.
Drawing a boundary for what is best for you and your mental, physical, and emotional health can be hard especially when it’s with something that you’ve dedicated your career to. But, that’s OK. Hard doesn’t make it wrong, hard is part of life. You will always take your experiences and knowledge with you to the next chapter and it will never completely leave you.
The other difficult component of being a physician and deciding to take a stand for yourself to move forward to the next best thing is often found in how it will impact others. Who will care for your patients? What about your team? These are difficult pills to swallow when you’re trying to do the best thing for you, but we have to continue to remind ourselves that we’ve served and will continue to serve others as doctors in whatever area we go to and it’s OK to leave people pleasing in the past and do what’s best for you.
When you can show up as the best version of yourself and embrace your identity after overcoming the cycle of grief and the fear of failure, that is when you can be empowered to do your best work and advance the field of medicine.
“I am the CEO of my life.” Dr. Debbie Bradley
In this episode:[02:35] Welcome to the show, Dr. Debbie Bradley!
[03:34] She shares her background and what lights her up.
[04:34] She discusses her journey to where she is today.
[10:14] Dr. Bradley believes that women physicians are not good at knowing their worth.
[11:16] As long as she can remember she wanted to be a doctor, so thinking of doing something caused fear to surface.
[14:18] “Hard doesn’t make it wrong, hard is just a part of life.”
[15:53] Dr. Bradley talks about going through a period of anger when she resigned from clinical medicine.
[18:38] She discusses the feelings that surfaced like guilt and shame.
[21:13] She believes that in med school you are conditioned to be people pleasers.
[24:34] She shares how she feels about leaving clinical medicine as her end date approaches.
[28:42] She talks about what she thinks her next chapter will look like.
[32:05] She discusses her experience with the BadAss Group.
[35:46] Dr. Bradley gives shout-outs to the coaches and friends who have helped her along the way.
[39:11] If anyone is thinking about industry check out Dr. Nerissa.
[40:38] Thank you for listening!
Links and Resources Connect with Dr. Debbie BradleyFacebook | Instagram | LinkedIn
3 WAYS TO GET INCREDIBLE HELP AT A LOW-COST!!!- Buy my Kindle Book,Doctor Me First, on Amazon
- Join us for our Monthly Burnout Masterclass Series.
- Come sit with me in the Badass Collective Slack Group.
When staring burnout straight in the face, we can sometimes feel the push to jump off of the ledge and leave medicine in the dust.
So why don’t we?
In this episode, I chat with the amazing Dr. Debbie Bradley and her experience with walking away from medicine and her shift into something that brought her so much more gratification.
However, the process of walking away from a practice that you’ve been invested in for years is never easy and it is one that I often equate to the cycle of grief. For many of us, medicine is something that we’ve devoted a large chunk of our lives to, and the idea of leaving that behind - although it is gratifying - comes with a bit of a mourning process as we say goodbye and transition to the next chapter.
By allowing ourselves to experience the cycle of grief and feel all the feels that it brings with it, you open the door to finding your identity in who you actually are as opposed to what you’re doing. As doctors, we have to identify ourselves without our practice and that is very difficult after you have dedicated your time to becoming a doctor in your field of practice.
Drawing a boundary for what is best for you and your mental, physical, and emotional health can be hard especially when it’s with something that you’ve dedicated your career to. But, that’s OK. Hard doesn’t make it wrong, hard is part of life. You will always take your experiences and knowledge with you to the next chapter and it will never completely leave you.
The other difficult component of being a physician and deciding to take a stand for yourself to move forward to the next best thing is often found in how it will impact others. Who will care for your patients? What about your team? These are difficult pills to swallow when you’re trying to do the best thing for you, but we have to continue to remind ourselves that we’ve served and will continue to serve others as doctors in whatever area we go to and it’s OK to leave people pleasing in the past and do what’s best for you.
When you can show up as the best version of yourself and embrace your identity after overcoming the cycle of grief and the fear of failure, that is when you can be empowered to do your best work and advance the field of medicine.
“I am the CEO of my life.” Dr. Debbie Bradley
In this episode:[02:35] Welcome to the show, Dr. Debbie Bradley!
[03:34] She shares her background and what lights her up.
[04:34] She discusses her journey to where she is today.
[10:14] Dr. Bradley believes that women physicians are not good at knowing their worth.
[11:16] As long as she can remember she wanted to be a doctor, so thinking of doing something caused fear to surface.
[14:18] “Hard doesn’t make it wrong, hard is just a part of life.”
[15:53] Dr. Bradley talks about going through a period of anger when she resigned from clinical medicine.
[18:38] She discusses the feelings that surfaced like guilt and shame.
[21:13] She believes that in med school you are conditioned to be people pleasers.
[24:34] She shares how she feels about leaving clinical medicine as her end date approaches.
[28:42] She talks about what she thinks her next chapter will look like.
[32:05] She discusses her experience with the BadAss Group.
[35:46] Dr. Bradley gives shout-outs to the coaches and friends who have helped her along the way.
[39:11] If anyone is thinking about industry check out Dr. Nerissa.
[40:38] Thank you for listening!
Links and Resources Connect with Dr. Debbie BradleyFacebook | Instagram | LinkedIn
3 WAYS TO GET INCREDIBLE HELP AT A LOW-COST!!!- Buy my Kindle Book,Doctor Me First, on Amazon
- Join us for our Monthly Burnout Masterclass Series.
- Come sit with me in the Badass Collective Slack Group.
Previous Episode
385: Single Parenting in Medicine with Dr. Hisla Bates
Finding the time to take a much needed break when staring burn out in the face can be a struggle that some may find themselves saying “I can’t, because-”
But, this week, I’m talking with one of my amazing colleagues, Dr. Hisla Bates, who was able to take a sabbatical even with the additional challenge of being a single parent. She shares with us what it was like being pregnant and a parent while going through residency and struggling to make ends meet.
It took Dr. Hisla several years before she was in the position to where she was able to take a sabbatical from medicine and she found the ability to do that by investing in real estate. One of her more recent projects provided her with the ability to pay off debt and relocate.
With this newfound financial freedom, she found the ability to do locums that provided her with the ability to work on her own terms and take the time off when she wants to be present with her family. Working locums gave her the freedom to say “no” which is such a luxury when you’ve been faced with burnout for such a long period of time.
During her breaks, Dr. Hisla was able to get back in touch with her creative side through the act of painting which helped her discover joy in her life again. By rediscovering how important art was to her she opened the door to bringing art into her practice to help others reconnect with what spawns joy for them.
As medical professionals who are constantly on the go and connected to work, it can be so difficult to take a step back and find the time that is necessary to devote to a hobby that brings you joy but it is necessary to keep your own cup full before you can fill the cup of your family or even your patients.
By opening ourselves to opportunities, we find that we are so much more than just doctors.
“I found a lot of freedom in doing locums work and wish I had done it earlier.” Dr. Hisla Bates
In this episode:[01:37] Welcome back to the show, Dr. Hisla Bates!
[02:31] She talks about the challenges of being pregnant and a single parent through residency.
[05:06] She discusses who she could depend on to help her and the struggle she faced with no money and an infant at home.
[06:30] Listen as she talks about getting involved with real estate and flipping houses.
[08:34] She shares her experience in working locum jobs and the freedom it gave her.
[09:50] Dr. Bates speaks about tapping into her creativity and being able to find joy again.
[12:40] She gives some advice for anyone who fears making changes.
[14:21] Find out where to connect with Dr. Hisla Bates.
[15:01] Thank you for listening!
Links and ResourcesEpisode 374: Healer Heal Yourself with Dr. Hisla Bates
Connect with Dr. BatesInstagram | Twitter | Facebook
3 WAYS TO GET INCREDIBLE HELP AT A LOW-COST!!!- Buy my Kindle Book,Doctor Me First, on Amazon
- Join us for our Monthly Burnout Masterclass Series.
- Come sit with me in the Badass Collective Slack Group.
Next Episode
387: Commercial Real Estate with Dr. Cherry Chen
As physicians, we are often burdened with wearing the white coat as an identity instead of just a profession.
Yes, we are doctors, but we are so much more than that!
I had a wonderful visit with my return guest, Dr. Cherry Chen, where we discussed how doctors can be multifaceted and lean into setting themselves up for success through real estate investment.
The options that begin to open up to us once we lean into something else have offered so much freedom. For instance, the success that Dr. Cherry has experienced through the last four years of real estate investment have presented her with the option of being able to scale back to part time medicine and experience more freedom in her life.
The beautiful thing about having investments that are putting passive income back into our lives is that we can begin to focus on our legacies and what we want to leave behind as people as opposed to just trying to survive.
When we think about real estate investment, we often think of rental houses and maintaining our own properties and finding our own tenants. While that’s a common way to invest in real estate and generate passive income, there are options to invest passively as well. Commercial real estate is Dr. Cherry’s preferred type of investment, because you literally just put money into it and passive income comes back to you without the hands on maintenance and pressure to fill occupancy.
By setting up a personalized strategy based upon your available time and finances and by focusing on the real estate goals that work for your time and money, you can make your money work for you and begin to open the doors to financial freedom.
“I feel like what makes real estate interesting is that we can all intuitively understand it.” Dr. Cherry Chen
In this episode:[1:33] Welcome back to the show, Dr. Cherry Chen!
[2:12] Who is Dr. Cherry and what is her background?
[3:00] Giving yourself space and being multifaceted as a doctor
[4:51] What are some of the options for getting involved in real estate investments
[5:59] Leaving your legacy
[6:47] Finding the best real estate strategy for you
[8:53] Shift your thinking on your investments to keep your strategy in mind
[11:07] Dr. Cherry’s favorite type of investment property
[12:23] The empowerment to make your own investment choices
[14:12] Resources to educate yourself on real estate investment, regardless of financial status
[16:11] How much does it usually take to get started in real estate investments?
[17:22] “The most valuable currency you have is your time”
[19:12] Connect with Dr. Cherry and learn more about real estate investment resources!
[20:34] Make your money work for you
Links and ResourcesDoctor Me First Episode 32 - Intention and Money with Dr. Cherry Chen
Connect with Dr. Cherry Chen 3 WAYS TO GET INCREDIBLE HELP AT A LOW-COST!!!- Buy my Kindle Book,Doctor Me First, on Amazon
- Join us for our Monthly Burnout Masterclass Series.
- Come sit with me in the Badass Collective Slack Group.
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