When I have clients going through a transition out of clinical practice, they often say things like “Who am I if I’m not a doctor?” There can be a lot of angst created by this thought. (And this is also true for people leaving whatever job they have been doing for a while–it’s not a thought exclusive to doctors.) 

How can you help yourself through this passage?

First,  I encourage you to be more aware of the many other identities that you can claim. For example, in addition to your job, you have family and friend relationships. You have activities that you engage in, hobbies you enjoy, and social groups you belong to. It is a good idea to strengthen those identities, both internally and externally, so your whole sense of self isn’t tied up with what you do. Identify and lean into those other parts of your life so they can support you.

Another approach is to determine what you do for work at a more basic level than your job title. What is your fundamental driving principle?

“I’m a doctor” limits you to a certain profession. In the midst of being a doctor (or doing whatever job you do), what do you consider to be your mission? What fundamental purpose are you exploring? 

For example, I describe myself as someone who facilitates healing and whose life purpose is to ease suffering. This identity doesn’t rely on my specifically working as a practicing physician because the identity transcends any one particular role. It is an identity that I took with me to my coaching practice, not one I “gave up” when I left the practice of medicine.

Even though you may leave your familiar doctor role, the doctor is coming with you. You can take the person out of the doctor’s office, but you can’t take the doctor out of the person.

A friend of mine has been having trouble with her skin. For the past couple of years every time she gets a scratch or a bite it seems to get really red, warm and has swollen. It looks like an infection and she has been treated with antibiotics several times. The reaction gets so severe that she fears she will have to go on antibiotics every time it happens. She was recently scratched by her cat and expressed concern about it progressing again.

Then I remembered a conversation between two other friends about a delayed reaction of unbearable itching 2 months after vaccination. One of them is an allergist, and she recognized this reaction as a mast cell activation disorder. 

I wondered if my other friend was experiencing this same thing. So she researched it, tried the over-the-counter treatments available, and it headed off the severe reaction. 

I maintain the capacity to retain information, sift through symptoms, consider possible diagnoses and point my friend in the direction to improve her health. I just don’t diagnose and treat her myself. 

Remember that you’re still a doctor.

You graduated from medical school. You may not still be in clinical practice, but you still have that degree. You still have many of the skills you used on a daily basis when you were practicing medicine. You just may not be using them in the same way. 

You still have the knowledge base and ability to read the literature.

You still have the ability to guide people through the medical system. 

You likely still have that innate desire to help make the lives of other people better and more healthy.

You can use your skills and knowledge in your own health or that of those you know and love. You can use them to advocate for yourself and others.  

And you can also use your abilities to gain knowledge and skill in the service of a new career or volunteer opportunity. 

Notice that the path may change, but your values, purpose, and mission likely won’t. You may just need to find some new language to express them and new methods to pursue them. 

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