Wavering?

[Caysaene]

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Did anyone else waver in their career decisions?

I've been leaning towards medicine for a while, and was pretty sure...then we had a bunch of stuff happen and I shied away from it, and changed my major to psych in order to go and get my masters in marriage/family therapy, which I think I would be good at, plus it'd be low-key and regular hours. But...I keep having events that make me re-think medicine. I HATE to switch again - my family is so disappointed already...plus I can't switch for at least another year since I need a pre-req class to continue (I need a math class for my second chem class; I'm in bio 1 and chem 1 right now).

I'm not sure what to do. I do volunteer at a hospital, but I mostly work with the nurses and not the physicians - I'm in the postpartum unit.

Ugh. I'm pretty bad at making decisions. I want to do what's best for myself but am unsure of what that would be. Everyone here seems so sure of themselves, and I'm envious. 🙁 Advice, please?

 

[loveoforganic]

Don't worry about your family. This is gonna affect you for the next 40 years.

 

[hiyaman]

There is no doubt in my mind that everyone has been unsure about what to do in their life. I just don't buy it, that someone can just commit to a certain profession 100% and has never questioned whether this is something they want to do. You need to do a little soul searching, and decide if medicine is right for you. There are other ways to do good in this world like you said you had an interest in marriage/family therapy which no doubt would be satisfying.

 

[Caysaene]

It's so difficult. 😳 I love physiology, and I love how pathologies affect the body at a cellular level. I'm around when the nurses give report, and most of them are sooooo nice about answering questions when I'm listening! They'll describe things for me, and answer any questions I have. They're fantastic and I love it. I love to learn, too, and that's something medicine has in spades.

I guess I'm just burnt out on labs that are randomly calculated for grades, back-stabbing pre-whatever wanna-bes, people that don't know what they're getting into, and just...general ignorance. It's irritating and I don't know if I want to put up with it forever. Ugh. I picked therapy because it's something I've been unofficially doing for others for years and it'd be fairly laid-back and low-key and I wouldn't do much else. Kind of boring, but hey, steady hours and a chance to "hone" my therapy skills, per se.

I'm hoping to shadow a DO pretty soon...and maybe ask the nurses if they know of an MD I can shadow at the hospital I volunteer at. I think that would help, to see more of what they do beyond talking to the two doctors I know.

 

[fizzgig]

fwiw everyone here is most definitely not in the "i'm so sure i've known since i was a tatertot what i've wanted to be and never wavered." there's lots to consider and a lot of people to compare yourself to here, but don't let that particular demon in your head have much say. he's an idiot.

 

[Caysaene]

fwiw everyone here is most definitely not in the "i'm so sure i've known since i was a tatertot what i've wanted to be and never wavered." there's lots to consider and a lot of people to compare yourself to here, but don't let that particular demon in your head have much say. he's an idiot.

I just worry I'm going to make the wrong decision. 🙁 Did anyone else do something similar? Start majoring in something else and then deciding they really had a passion for medicine?

 

[fizzgig]

i'm a non trad, in grad school currently, trying to gather up my wits and make them into a phd so that i can go to med school so yes 😉 and i'm not the only one doing this even within my own department. keep doing the volunteer/shadow, and do what analyzing in your own head too to try to figure out what it is about medicine that won't leave you alone. i put a huge amount of weight on myself to make the 'correct' decision too when it came to this, so i know it's rough. i don't know where you are right now (are you a licensed and working family therapist at this point?), but having experience that you get by having made your 'wrong' decision is still great experience. i'd love to have been in college who i am today, and if i had been then maybe med school would have been the 'right' decision at that time. as it stands, i don't know that i can say going to grad school, even though i'm switching, was wrong. i needed to get where i am today. and medical research gives me a new perspective on medicine. just keep working through it to get some clarity for your sanity, and once you have some clarity you'll be able to explain it more to your family and others around you.

 

[loveoforganic]

I started off bio premed, bad semester, really explored my options, found a few other things I could really see myself happy in (clinical psych, teaching), but still eventually came back to medicine. I'm happy with the choice. However, I don't think I'd be unhappy as a clinical psychologist. It's a similarly amazing job. I'm even still trying to incorporate those in my life (applying for gap year teaching positions and trying to set up a wayforme to get a masters in psych with a health psych focus at the moment).

Just do what you think will make you happy long term. You can only predict this so much, so just do the best job you can. If you end up being unsatisfied with your choice, change it to the best of your ability.