A physician friend of mine stopped by to tell me that the last two blogs on The Habit of Loving What You Do had caused him to “stand in front of the mirror and take a long, hard look at myself.”

It seems that practicing medicine had somehow lost its allure and he frequently found himself “dragging my butt out of bed in the morning and going to work just because I have to.”

He explained he felt trapped by the circumstances of his life. He has a family, a mortgage on his home, another mortgage on a cabin, has kids preparing for college and has been able to provide all of this from his practice.  But somehow he was no longer doing what he loved.

He talked at great length about how tired he was of the constant political interference from the healthcare system, the relentless pressure to see more and more patients and just the practice of medicine itself had turned him off from what had been a strong passion and commitment to his profession.

Several times over the past few years he had explored other opportunities but nothing seemed to offer the level of income that he and his family had grown accustomed to and he had resigned himself to another 15 years of getting up each morning and going to a place that no longer offered any appeal.

With a broad smile he told me he has been reading both my blogs each week in the hopes that at some point I would write something that actually made sense and that finally our discussion regarding The Habit of Loving What You Do had served as the pay-off for him having to suffer through my ramblings week after week.

After reading last week’s blog he truly had stood in front of the mirror and gazed at his reflection asking himself what had changed within him because, as he put it, the blogs clearly highlighted that his job had really not changed much: there has always been political interference, there always was pressure to see more patients and the practice of medicine is still the practice of medicine.

Nothing had changed therefore he concluded he must have changed.

And so standing in front of that mirror he made a promise to himself that while he would still explore other opportunities, he would also commit to rediscovering and rekindling the passion and sense of accomplishment that had been his to enjoy for so many years.

He promised he would find inspiration and meaningfulness in everything he did and would commit himself to becoming an even better, more knowledgeable and more patient doctor than he is today.

Those two blogs pointed out to him “what I always knew but refused to accept,” that his dislike and disinterest in his profession was entirely of his making and that in order to regain his passion he simply needed to change his perspective.

The day before we met for coffee had been, he said, the first day in several years when he actually looked forward to getting out of bed and going to work and he came home at the end of the day both exhausted and exhilarated – a delightful combination of emotions.

The Habit of Loving What You Do – use it or abuse it each day.

The choice is yours.

Let’s make a habit of meeting like this.

My book Life Sinks or Soars – the Choice is Yours now has its very own website. Please visit us at  www.lifesinksorsoars.com  and let me know what you think.

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