Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

A physician takes a leap of faith

Alexandra Novitsky, MD
Physician
October 4, 2018
Share
Tweet
Share

About two years ago, I made a big career move — I took a leap of faith. I left full-time clinical practice as a neonatologist to become a national medical director for a neonatal resource team. The job was appealing because it was a new challenge for me. I had the opportunity to use my skill set as a neonatologist while learning the business aspect of medicine.

The job also provided a consistent schedule. This would allow me to better attend to my family. I’m going to be honest with you — we were struggling. My husband is a busy child psychiatrist, I was working 24-hour shifts, and our girls were 18 months and 4-years-old at the time. Needless to say, we required a lot of help and careful planning to make our life work.

Like most health care professionals, I missed weekends, holidays, first days of school, plays, parties, muffins for mom and the list goes on. I was missing my girls grow. My husband and I were coexisting. I was beginning to burn out. I knew I needed a change. But how do I justify giving up a career that took me 14 years to achieve?

After careful thinking, I found a way to continue my practice as a clinical neonatologist. I determined the amount of clinical time I would need to keep my skills fresh, and I committed to working those hours. When I took a step back from intense clinical practice, I was able to see the pace I was running at.

There were some unexpected things that happened with my job change. As a telecommuter, I work at home alone. This allowed much more time to think. I began doing daily self-analysis and realized that I had become emotionally drained with nothing left to give. I achieved great professional success but at what cost to myself and my family. Would I recover from this exhaustion?

I have always known myself to be an upbeat, positive and fun loving. But I was showing up tired, grumpy and irritable. I knew that I had a lot of work ahead of me. I needed to make a huge investment in myself. I needed to dig deep and uncover repressed emotions while showing self-love. Not an easy task, I quickly learned.

Where do you start? How do you pick up the pieces? It seems overwhelming right? After careful contemplation, I decided that the best place to start was just to start writing — every day. Have you ever read one of your previous journal entries and couldn’t believe that you actually wrote the entry? This is one reason that journaling is so powerful. You can actually watch the evolution of self-discovery.

So many different emotions were stirred in my journaling sessions. I discovered that I was angry to the core. But why? I had everything I could possibly want.

Finding the origin of the anger was not difficult, but dealing with the aftermath felt like a marathon. Months went by, and I continued to dwell. I could not seem to move on. I confided in a friend, and she suggested that I rewrite my story. So this is what I did. I rewrote my story in a way that relieved me from my victim role. I read the story over and over. I believed my story. I could literally feel my anger dissipate.

I discovered that it wasn’t a person or a situation that made me feel angry. The anger was generated from my own thoughts. When I reframed my thoughts, everything changed. We have the ability to change our thoughts in order to feel the desired emotion. I wanted to feel alive — high on life! What do I have to think to feel this?

This is what I know. We have the ability feel however we want. Our thoughts will control how we feel. Our brains want to take the easy way out and generate automatic negative thoughts, and our work is to create alternative self-serving thoughts. Imagine this: You can feel the best you ever have right now!

I challenge you to take a self-inventory. Do you need to make any changes? Have you been thinking about doing something different and new? Are you willing to take a risk? Jump in with your eyes wide open — take a leap of faith. I promise that your leap will open amazing opportunities and unlock the code to discovering you.

Alexandra Novitsky is a neonatologist.

ADVERTISEMENT

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

Should your practice hire a physician assistant or nurse practitioner?

October 4, 2018 Kevin 0
…
Next

The myth of compassion in health care

October 4, 2018 Kevin 12
…

Tagged as: Hospital-Based Medicine, Pediatrics

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Should your practice hire a physician assistant or nurse practitioner?
Next Post >
The myth of compassion in health care

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Alexandra Novitsky, MD

  • A physician loves the adrenaline surge

    Alexandra Novitsky, MD
  • Parents vs. Fortnite: tips from a child psychiatrist

    Alexandra Novitsky, MD

Related Posts

  • A physician’s addiction to social media

    Amanda Xi, MD
  • Medical school ends with a leap of faith

    Orly Farber
  • A prayer from an emergency physician

    Edwin Leap, MD
  • How a physician keynote can highlight your conference

    Kevin Pho, MD
  • Chasing numbers contributes to physician burnout

    DrizzleMD
  • The black physician’s burden

    Naomi Tweyo Nkinsi

More in Physician

  • The gift we keep giving: How medicine demands everything—even our holidays

    Tomi Mitchell, MD
  • From burnout to balance: a neurosurgeon’s bold career redesign

    Jessie Mahoney, MD
  • Why working in Hawai’i health care isn’t all paradise

    Clayton Foster, MD
  • How New Mexico became a malpractice lawsuit hotspot

    Patrick Hudson, MD
  • Why compassion—not credentials—defines great doctors

    Dr. Saad S. Alshohaib
  • Why Canada is losing its skilled immigrant doctors

    Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
    • How New Mexico became a malpractice lawsuit hotspot

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
    • Why doctors are reclaiming control from burnout culture

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • A world without vaccines: What history teaches us about public health

      Drew Remignanti, MD, MPH | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
    • How the 10th Apple Effect is stealing your joy in medicine

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • From Founding Fathers to modern battles: physician activism in a politicized era [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • From stigma to science: Rethinking the U.S. drug scheduling system

      Artin Asadipooya | Meds
    • The gift we keep giving: How medicine demands everything—even our holidays

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Physician
    • The promise and perils of AI in health care: Why we need better testing standards

      Max Rollwage, PhD | Tech
    • From burnout to balance: a neurosurgeon’s bold career redesign

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
    • Healing the doctor-patient relationship by attacking administrative inefficiencies

      Allen Fredrickson | Policy

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

Leave a Comment

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
    • How New Mexico became a malpractice lawsuit hotspot

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
    • Why doctors are reclaiming control from burnout culture

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • A world without vaccines: What history teaches us about public health

      Drew Remignanti, MD, MPH | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
    • How the 10th Apple Effect is stealing your joy in medicine

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • From Founding Fathers to modern battles: physician activism in a politicized era [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • From stigma to science: Rethinking the U.S. drug scheduling system

      Artin Asadipooya | Meds
    • The gift we keep giving: How medicine demands everything—even our holidays

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Physician
    • The promise and perils of AI in health care: Why we need better testing standards

      Max Rollwage, PhD | Tech
    • From burnout to balance: a neurosurgeon’s bold career redesign

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
    • Healing the doctor-patient relationship by attacking administrative inefficiencies

      Allen Fredrickson | Policy

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Leave a Comment

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...