Is there such thing as a calling?

[Prestone]

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Thanks to anyone who responds!

Does anyone feel they have a calling for this job (if there is such a thing)? I am in an awkward situation and can't decide what path to follow.

I've been an airline pilot for the past 3 years. During my flights I would always wonder if I was meant to do more (you have a lot of time cruising from Boston to San Francisco). I decided to do my EMT license as I was flying and volunteered for about 150 hours in an Emergency Room. I absolutely loved it. Yet every time I was thinking about making the jump I kept telling myself that the amount of debt wasn't worth it and I would only graduate in 10 years and still feel unfulfilled.

In this light I decided I wanted to jump into the business world. I quit my job as a pilot and began working as an analyst for a reputable company. I am currently working on my MBA (tier 2 school) and I feel very uninterested and fed up. During work all I think about is heading to medical school and how I am too scared to even try.

An overwhelming thought I always have which deters me from starting is debt. I was fortunate enough to get my first BS degree and complete flight school with little debt, respectively. I am currently about 1/3 the way done with my MBA and have no will to finish.

What keeps me up at night is the feeling I was meant to be a doctor. All of my previous teachers and colleagues say I would be great at it yet debt and age scare me off.

I am currently 25, wouldn't matriculate until 28 and therefore with any sort of long residency, I wouldn't be done until I was 35-37.

I apologize if it sounds sappy but I want to know if anyone else out there has felt this and done what I can't do. I really want it, yet I am too scared to leap.

 

[ymcMD]

As far as "a calling" goes I dont know that everyone who goes into medicine has had it from the very beginning. I know I didnt...experiences bring about new passions and my passion for medicine arose from being a patient, go figure; perhaps yours began when volunteering at the emergency room.

I understand your hesitation. Just like you I am 25, planning to enter at 28 and I have spent countless hours thinking about my age, debt, and so many other things. For me the bottom line was that I didn't want to get to 40 (which inevitably will happen to everyone anyway) and regret not having done what I love. Yes!!!! you are going to have a lot of debt but at the end of the day 1. hopefully you'll be able to pay it off 2. you'll be able to do what you really love 3. thank the lord for the amount of time given to pay back student loans LOL

My $0.02 is GO FOR IT, ofcourse, if it's what you truly feel you really love. It's always better to say "I am" than "I wish I would've been" 😉

 

[Scottish Chap]

Thanks to anyone who responds!

Does anyone feel they have a calling for this job (if there is such a thing)? I am in an awkward situation and can't decide what path to follow.

I've been an airline pilot for the past 3 years. During my flights I would always wonder if I was meant to do more (you have a lot of time cruising from Boston to San Francisco). I decided to do my EMT license as I was flying and volunteered for about 150 hours in an Emergency Room. I absolutely loved it. Yet every time I was thinking about making the jump I kept telling myself that the amount of debt wasn't worth it and I would only graduate in 10 years and still feel unfulfilled.

In this light I decided I wanted to jump into the business world. I quit my job as a pilot and began working as an analyst for a reputable company. I am currently working on my MBA (tier 2 school) and I feel very uninterested and fed up. During work all I think about is heading to medical school and how I am too scared to even try.

An overwhelming thought I always have which deters me from starting is debt. I was fortunate enough to get my first BS degree and complete flight school with little debt, respectively. I am currently about 1/3 the way done with my MBA and have no will to finish.

What keeps me up at night is the feeling I was meant to be a doctor. All of my previous teachers and colleagues say I would be great at it yet debt and age scare me off.

I am currently 25, wouldn't matriculate until 28 and therefore with any sort of long residency, I wouldn't be done until I was 35-37.

I apologize if it sounds sappy but I want to know if anyone else out there has felt this and done what I can't do. I really want it, yet I am too scared to leap.

If you want to be a physician there's little that will satisfy that. The debt will be considerable, I promise you - especially now that loan consolidation and deferment is gone during residency. I am a PGY-2 who started medical school at 28. I will not be 'done' until I am 39. My debt burden is substantial. Like you, I had a very successful career young but I did not feel I was being maximally challenged. I no longer feel that way. I am maximally challenged every day. But....for better or worse, I can say I've lived. I have no regrets. Don't do this unless you absolutely cannot see yourself doing anything else. The financial and personal sacrifices are just too great. Good luck!

 

[Bjams]

Funny how I am in the exact opposite position as you are. I am a 4th year medical student who recently decided to delay graduation because I feel I haven't found my niche in medicine at this point and don't feel comfortable entering residency with that on my chest. Additionally, I've just found most of medical school and clinical work to be tedious and boring. I've been fascinated with flying ever since I was a kid (I'm 28 now) and have been having serious thoughts about leaving medical school to pursue that dream. At this point, medicine just isn't what I thought it would be. But this is beside the point.

To answer your question, if I were you, I would have no qualms about entering medical school at 28 years old. I have a guy in my class who is 45, and several others who are in their 30s. Plus, I think medical schools really value life experience and maturity, both of which you have. Regarding debt, don't let it stand in your way. The vast majority of physicians have it, and they all do fine. It's just part of the game.

An aside, if you don't mind--what was it about being a pilot that caused you to leave?

 

[fizzgig]

FWIW I'm a grad student currently planning to turn around and enter med school and I'm going to be about in your age shoes, maybe a year past, at matriculation. And yes, I do believe in a calling in many ways.

Yes it seems cheesy, but everyone is called to be someone. That does not mean everyone is called to a certain profession, no. You can be a doctor or analyst or pilot without it being your calling, because in some cases who you are meant to be doesn't seem to you to align into some profession, and that's fine. But I don't necessarily think that means it is stupid or false when you DO feel drawn to a certain profession.

I spent a long time kind of backing up too, saying wow, but the debt and time and all the negatives! But if you want to do it, it's too draining to try to ignore it and push it into a box you don't think about because it's impractical, I'd say.

 

[NTF]

Start the prereqs. Keep expanding your exposure. Shadow/volunteer in different settings and specialties. Shadow different providers (RN, NP, PA, PT, LISW, Pharm, Psychologist). 150hrs in the ER is a good start, but medicine is a vast field. Don't confine yourself to one perspective. Keep expanding your exposure until you've learned to distinguish the "idea" of medicine from the daily practice of doctoring. If it's still what you want to do then debt and age (28 is young. I started when I was 36) while no small consideration shouldn't be a deterrent from doing something you truly love.

 

[Simplify]

I'm no pilot, but my gut instinct for a commercial airline pilot is that the job is very monotonous. Pilots are well paid but in some sense they're like a long haul trucker. I think it takes a certain personality type to do that for a living. I think I'd fall asleep most of the time (which is exactly what I do on airplanes). 😀

 

[Prestone]

"An aside, if you don't mind--what was it about being a pilot that caused you to leave? "

I left because, as was later stated, it is very motonouse. You never use your brain. You just follow procedure because of how regulated the industry has become (maybe this is also sounding like what medicine is turning into). It is a lot more fun (and sadly difficult because of the new levels of automation) to fly a Cessna 172 then a 110 seater jet.

What i am mostly concerned about at my age is retirement and backing. Sure there are people that say they had classmates at the age of 40 and 45, but they've had a successful career in something else and most likely a house and a lot more financial backing. I've never really had a chance to save (aside from a little bit in my ROTH, IRA and 401k). I would be draining all of my savings during pre-reqs and then getting myself into a lot of debt during med school. I guess this is how everyone has to do it though right? I appreciate what everyone is saying because I just don't feel fullfilled in anything that I am doing and need to possibly pursue this!

 

[Simplify]

How you finance your education depends on too many factors to pin down. In my situation I have the financial support of my wife. My retirement accounts are still intact from when I worked full time (albeit a little drained due to economic conditions). I don't really have the means to contribute to them, but at least they'll start growing eventually. If you can avoid touching them, I would try my best to do so. As far as going in debt, I think in most cases that is unavoidable. Unless you made your money the old fashioned way (inheritance), or have huge amounts of disposable income, you will be forced to finance your education. That is part of the process.

I don't think you need to be financially set right now in order to make medical school work. Sure, after you graduate you might have to be a bit more prudent with your money and allocate a higher percentage to savings. Your younger peers might buy a luxury car or more house than they can afford. I will probably put that money in my 401k.

 

[Armywife06]

I have wanted to be a doctor since I was a kid, but really became passionate about it after I was a patient when I was 16. However, I got sidetracked, got married, had kids. I started back to college and thought well I guess I could just get a degree in accounting or something. I was scared about being able to get through pre-med classes, my age, my kids, just about everything. Then one day my mom said to me, "You can be 35 and be an accountant which you would hate, or you can be 35 and be living your dream, either way you are going to be 35...." That was the moment I decided to go for it and haven't looked back since. You just need to have that moment that you decide without a doubt this is what you are going to do!! 🙂

 

[katiemaude]

You posed a really interesting question (to me, at least). Since high school, I've had a "gut feeling" that I was meant to be a doctor. I also had a talent for writing since I was a young child, and I eventually developed a passion for journalism. I pursued the latter in college and as a career for 10 years and did well, but when the opportunity presented itself to switch careers (read: massive layoffs, industry implosion), I took it. I feel like I scratched that itch, so to speak. I still earn some income through freelance writing and I plan to continue writing fiction in my spare time, to keep that for myself.

As for pre-med, I waded into those waters very slowly. I was offered a free semester at the community college, so I started with gen chem and bio and a psych class. I wouldn't admit to myself or anyone else that medical school was my ultimate goal. I told myself I'd see if I could hack it, and if I could, I'd apply to PA programs.

The deeper I go in, the more I want to be a physician. I am still testing myself and I could shift gears and go do the PA route at any point. I think that's healthy - I have tremendous respect for PAs and I know the differences - but I know that to be a physician, you have to REALLY want it and be willing to sacrifice. I get the impression that being a PA is a more lifestyle-friendly choice for a non-trad interested in medicine, but if being a physician is my ultimate, nothing but med school will cut it. 😱

 

[AllOptionsOpen]

I don't believe in anything supernatural or predetermined that could be labeled a calling. I believe there are things we're predisposed to be good at, but I think there are many jobs that they would be equally good at.

I also don't believe it's necessary for there to be a calling for someone to make a good physician. I don't believe the oft repeated phrase that, 'If you can imagine yourself doing anything else, don't do this."

I don't think any single profession warrants such hyperbole. I believe this is especially true for non-trad students. If we're honest, not only can we see ourselves doing something else, we've done something else. It clearly wasn't as fulfilling, but without being able to travel forward in time two decades, we have absolutely no way of being certain that everything that is missing in our current professions will be satisfied by being a physician.

Instead, I'd rather look at it more reasonably and say that if, despite seeing all the negatives and potential future negatives, you still find you have the necessary drive and passion to become a physician, then of course you should go for it. Don't wait for a mystical, epic novel/movie style force to overtake you before you're willing to shoot for what you want. Realize that life isn't usually about events and forces so obvious that they carry you away like water bursting from a broken dam. Most of our decisions are made in quiet, with small twinges of feeling pulling us in one direction or another, and the trick is figuring out the source and deciding which voices are healthy and which are destructive.

Learn to differentiate the whispers rather than waiting around for the universe to shout at you.

 

[EdLongshanks]

I don't believe in anything supernatural or predetermined that could be labeled a calling. I believe there are things we're predisposed to be good at, but I think there are many jobs that they would be equally good at.

I also don't believe it's necessary for there to be a calling for someone to make a good physician. I don't believe the oft repeated phrase that, 'If you can imagine yourself doing anything else, don't do this."

.

All of this is very well written and right.

As a young man I wanted to be a preacher. A minister, according to the universal opinion of everyone in my fellowship must be "called." In my fellowship, a minister was supposed to be able to point to a lightening from heaven moment when he, finally, after a long struggle, "surrendered" to his calling. Elder ministers told young men that if "you can see yourself making it to heaven without preaching, then don't preach." So, lacking this much ability at self-deception, for 20 years I took the backseat in church leadership to more dramatic, but less able men.

But God (or if you want a more secular term, fate) doesn't always scorch your pants with lightening, sometimes he uses bun warmers. A more reasonable approach to these matters is to understand that a calling is an equal combination of natural affinity, opportunity, ability, and hard work.

Do you like dealing with people's sickness in the way that a Doctor (as opposed to a nurse) does? Is there are reasonable way for you to go to medical school? Do you have the intellectual heft to get the education? Are you willing to work that hard?

People who meet all of these qualifications are not that common and the pre-med/admissions process will weed out those who are lacking in one or more of them.

 

[Don Draper]

Thanks to anyone who responds!

Does anyone feel they have a calling for this job (if there is such a thing)? I am in an awkward situation and can't decide what path to follow.

I've been an airline pilot for the past 3 years. During my flights I would always wonder if I was meant to do more (you have a lot of time cruising from Boston to San Francisco). I decided to do my EMT license as I was flying and volunteered for about 150 hours in an Emergency Room. I absolutely loved it. Yet every time I was thinking about making the jump I kept telling myself that the amount of debt wasn't worth it and I would only graduate in 10 years and still feel unfulfilled.

In this light I decided I wanted to jump into the business world. I quit my job as a pilot and began working as an analyst for a reputable company. I am currently working on my MBA (tier 2 school) and I feel very uninterested and fed up. During work all I think about is heading to medical school and how I am too scared to even try.

An overwhelming thought I always have which deters me from starting is debt. I was fortunate enough to get my first BS degree and complete flight school with little debt, respectively. I am currently about 1/3 the way done with my MBA and have no will to finish.

What keeps me up at night is the feeling I was meant to be a doctor. All of my previous teachers and colleagues say I would be great at it yet debt and age scare me off.

I am currently 25, wouldn't matriculate until 28 and therefore with any sort of long residency, I wouldn't be done until I was 35-37.

I apologize if it sounds sappy but I want to know if anyone else out there has felt this and done what I can't do. I really want it, yet I am too scared to leap.

I didn't read all the responses, so I'm sure someone else has similar thoughts to myself.

I think the calling thing is BS mostly. You can't discredit any one person's motivations though, so to each his own.

Yet to say that a person has to have a calling or something like that is unintelligent. Having had a successful career and now in the middle of an application year, I understand what makes people good at things. Some people would have you believe that a special calling is the only way to make it, but that is wrong.

You can simply just think medicine is a great career and understand it isn't perfect, and that you will be willing to work hard. Make no mistake, there will be many challenges, so you need to really want to do it.


BUT WHY? The exact why doesn't matter. The strength of the why is what matters.

I thought about being a doc for a while in my early twenties, but it was until my after my mid-twenties that I decided that I could and would do it. Each path is different as each person is different. Good luck.

 

[Don Draper]

All of this is very well written and right.

As a young man I wanted to be a preacher. A minister, according to the universal opinion of everyone in my fellowship must be "called." In my fellowship, a minister was supposed to be able to point to a lightening from heaven moment when he, finally, after a long struggle, "surrendered" to his calling. Elder ministers told young men that if "you can see yourself making it to heaven without preaching, then don't preach." So, lacking this much ability at self-deception, for 20 years I took the backseat in church leadership to more dramatic, but less able men.

But God (or if you want a more secular term, fate) doesn't always scorch your pants with lightening, sometimes he uses bun warmers. A more reasonable approach to these matters is to understand that a calling is an equal combination of natural affinity, opportunity, ability, and hard work.

Do you like dealing with people's sickness in the way that a Doctor (as opposed to a nurse) does? Is there are reasonable way for you to go to medical school? Do you have the intellectual heft to get the education? Are you willing to work that hard?

People who meet all of these qualifications are not that common and the pre-med/admissions process will weed out those who are lacking in one or more of them.

agreed that moments that must define your purpose is a silly idea that is believed by many that don't understand what and how to achieve excellence.

Excellence isn't achieved by single events. It is by consistently picking yourself up through adversity and throwing your whole heart into tasks and goals.

 

[Simplify]

BUT WHY? The exact why doesn't matter. The strength of the why is what matters.

I agree that the idea of a "calling" is overly dramatic nonsense, naiveté, or some combination of the two. You're spot on with this quote.

 

[mspeedwagon]

If that is your reason for leaving aviation (an unrealistic dream to a few of us here on sdn for one reason or another), I would definitely NOT consider medicine.

You are exactly right when you say that medicine has become following procedure. Often the physician is given a treatment protocol and asked to follow it word for word (For example, if subjects WBC drop below 5, then withhold medication until subject counts recover). Medicine has become a lot of just following procedures with absolutely no thinking (much like being a pilot, this isn't true during training, but as you move up you think less and less because of such tight regulations).

The only industry that is more regulated than aviation is medicine. Every action in medicine has the risk of a lawsuit. And, if anyrhing, there are only going to be more regulations to come.

All that said, if medicine is the only thing you see yourself doing, starting taking the pre-reqs at 25 is not a big deal. The debt is part of the journey, but you'll have the ability to pay if off.

You just follow procedure because of how regulated the industry has become (maybe this is also sounding like what medicine is turning into).

 

[NTF]

This "calling" topic has come up quite a few times. Here's my take on it from a different thread.

"I know it's not a common sentiment on SDN. You frequently hear 'I couldn't imagine myself doing anything else' or 'If you could see yourself doing anything else, then don't go into medicine'. But you may want to consider at the age you are whether you're built for the kind of career epiphany that we were all told growing up that we should have. I'm jealous of people with that wonderful feeling of having a 'calling' and way envious of those who got it at a young age. But I long ago came to terms with the fact that my personality isn't really structured for that kind of clarity. I'm never ENTIRELY sure I'm making the right the decision. There's always shades and glimmers of doubt.

The truth is once I realized that I'm just not that kind of guy, life got a lot easier and more fun. It kind of relieved me of a lot of pressure. I could throw myself into things with much more joy, because I didn't have to know that 'this was IT'. I could just enjoy the process and the path. I think medicine is really cool. I love science and teaching. I love puzzles and research. I'd like the world to be a smidgeon better for my having been here. I like hangin with patients (even the ones that drive you mad). I really enjoy the spectrum of humanity I've witnessed in my work at a hospital, both patients and staff. I live a more fulfilling life now that I'm no longer waiting for that revelatory moment.

At some point you gotta just make your best judgement. There may not be a beam of light from the heavens and an angelic choir (sorry Hillary - I'm paraphrasing). Sometimes you make your best judgement and enjoy your path for what it is. The nice thing about not being burdened with purity of purpose is that you're always prepared to cut your losses or adapt. It makes you less delusional about career paths. It is what it is and that's not bad. It can still be meaningful and fun and not be 'what you were always meant to be'. Nothing's all bad. Nothing's all good. It's all about what you think you'll enjoy doing day to day."