Document 1 - Word
Praia Grande, Ferragudo, Portugal
Morning folks! I’m currently isolating in my room with an unforgiving dose of COVID 19. Who knew it was still a thing? My brain is pure mush, but I’m going to try and edit this post anyway.
I’m keeping it light and positive today. There will be plenty of material regarding the difficulties of working as a junior doctor and the emotional turmoil surrounding the decision to leave medicine in future posts. Today, I’d just like to offer you a little hope and inspiration.
First, let me catch you up:
I finished my internship in July 2021 and worked 2 weeks as a locum Senior House Officer (SHO) in Psychiatry. Then, I hung up my scrubs and my stethoscope and spent my hard-earned savings on a car, driving lessons and therapy. At this point I had to consider a career as a driving instructor – that’s where the money is! (And it only took me 3 attempts to pass the driving test…)
From October 2021 to June 2022, I worked for Public Health as a Contact Tracer for COVID 19. As contact tracing dialled down, I quit my job and set off traveling with my partner, Luke.
But first: we broke our lease, packed up our house, stuffed an embarrassing number of boxes, furniture and plants into Luke’s parents’ shed and moved into his childhood bedroom - two dogs and a cat in tow. It’s a tight fit, but the money we saved on rent went a long way towards funding our travels.
We spent five weeks in Brazil visiting my family and another six travelling Portugal’s coastline on a scouting trip for our next address!
We are now back in Ireland patiently waiting for our relocation agent to bag us a rental property in our chosen city in Portugal – hopefully for half the rent we were paying in Galway.
This summer was unbelievable. We were so lucky to have been able to do everything we did. But it wasn’t just luck: Luke is a software engineer and is able to work from anywhere in the world from his computer - (Why didn’t I just follow my dad into computer sciences!?!) - and I am currently unemployed or “between careers,” if you wish. We have found ourselves in this incredibly rare and fortunate time in our lives where we are not tied down to any particular job or location.
Because we can live anywhere, we spent six weeks making our way up Portugal’s coastline scouting out potential cities, neighbourhoods and rental properties. It truly was a luxury to be able to spend the time getting to know each region and city before making such a big decision.
It was a working holiday. Luke worked his regular hours on his laptop. I kept myself busy with research on moving to Portugal and building my website. We spent the evenings driving or walking around neighborhoods trying to get a better sense of the culture, the community and the landscape, and we still fit in many many churches, basilicas, cathedrals, castles, palaces, squares… It was wonderful and exhausting, but mostly wonderful!
What I wish to point out is that I have gained huge freedom since leaving medicine. I don’t need to search for temporary accommodation in a different town every 6 months. I am not restricted by unpredictable and irregular hours, by weekend call, by holidays which have to be scheduled at the beginning of each new rota and which have to be coordinated with several other doctors’ schedules. My time is not filled with audits, quality improvement projects, research papers, self-study and so many other responsibilities I would undoubtedly take on to bulk up my resume, stand out and stay relevant.
I used to feel like I had lost control over my own life in medicine. I was doing so many things that were expected of me that I had no time to do what I enjoyed. The path was clear: medical school – Internship – SHO – apply for schemes – sit exams – Registrar/ Specialist Registrar – and eventually Consultant. I just needed to stay on the path and fill up all my extra time with research, learning, teaching, leadership experience, an Olympic Gold Medal and a Nobel Peace Prize. Medicine is a travellator - or an escalator, if things go to plan - and it is really hard to get off, because why would you get off when the path is laid out in front of you?
Knowing exactly where I was headed was hugely comforting, for a long time, but by the end of my intern year, that trajectory started to look incredibly bleak. It only emphasised that feeling of loss of control. We just don’t have much autonomy in medicine – at least not until you reach consultant level - and the consultant contracts released in 2021 tried to limit that, too.
Today, I feel like I’ve regained that control. I have a newfound freedom to choose my next move, to live where I want to live and do whatever I want to do. Not knowing what’s ahead is scary. A blank canvas and a clean paintbrush are intimidating – or if you prefer: a brand-new notebook and sharpened pencil with a perfectly untouched eraser, or a blank Word document – it’s daunting! But it’s also so exciting! What’s going to happen!?
I’ll leave you with this:
Think about what you would do if you had the freedom to choose.
And whatever you do, please remember to wash your hands and sneeze into your elbows!
Mind yourselves,
Isabella
