Making Difficult Life Decisions. (Change Is Risky, But Is Staying The Same Riskier?)

(TLDR & free gifts in the bottom, don’t miss it!)

I’ve played this scenario in my head countless times.

The single hardest choice I’ve made so far in my life hands down is to quit medicine.

8 years in, close to 130,000 dollars in student loan debt and 0 practical skills that I can monetize.

Some people think I’m nuts for quitting when I’m so close to finishing. To which my response is this:

I might be nuts yes, but I am nowhere near close to finishing, even though I’ve already spent 8 years of my life working towards becoming a doctor.

The amount of emotional turmoil for making the decision to quit was not as bad as I thought it was going to be, partly because I knew I never really wanted to study medicine.

The turmoil mostly came from worrying how others will think of me, and how will I be able to feed myself, pay back the student loan, care for my parents, and start a family before I get too old.

To me, the highest privilege I can ever think of is to provide for my parents and other immediate family members.

I’ve always wanted to be the man of the house, not in a mean, controlling and authoritative way, but more of a “people can always rely on me, and I will always keep them safe” way.

The only reason why I got into medical school was because when I was 18, my father decided for me that I would go.

Anti-climatic I know, but that’s pretty much the whole reason.

He thinks that in this family, you are either a medical doctor, a nurse, or you’re a failure of a person that’s only good for flipping burgers.

(Hence my name, Dr.BurgerFlipper. I will have an MD degree but I will literally work as a burger flipper if it means I get to make my own choices)

I was too young and emotionally weak to stand up for myself and my own vision at that time. So I also lied to myself that it’s fine, as soon as I become a doctor and pay back all my loans, I will be free to do whatever I want.

As the years go by, I started becoming more and more mature, my vision of becoming the most dependable person in the family has never changed.

What changed however, was the thought of “becoming a doctor, then I can be whatever I want after.”

By the time I become a doctor and have my loans all paid off I’d be close to 40.

I am not saying it’ll be impossible to start exploring once I’m 40, but I would be exponentially more difficult to take on risks of starting businesses, or learning absolutely new skills, so why wouldn’t I want to just start now?

Some of us reading here might already know that we must change our lives for the better.

What’s stopping us from making the shift?

And what can we do about it?

Judging from my experience and the people I’ve been talking to, the number one reason was always the worrying of how others will think and behave.

Then second place would be the absolute uncertainty of the shift.

I am currently going through these two problems myself, but I don’t let them stop me frankly because I know for a fact that I would be way worst off if I were to just stay the same.

I can learn to handle judgement, learn the new skills required to properly run businesses, and learn how to make new friends that are more productive, if it means I get to toss my old unfulfilling life away and start anew.

the old conventional path we walked are more “certain” and “secure” alright.

Secure path to a certain doom…

As uncertain it as it is to start fresh into a new field, there’s a chance for me to not be in doom.

It’s a chance to build a personal brand, to escape our personal hells.

It won’t be easy, but who’s telling you staying the same would be easier?

Don’t get being comfortable confused with things being easy.

You can be comfortable doing hard things that make your life easier down the line.

You can also be comfortable staying in shitty situations and never do a thing about it, and live a difficult life because of that.

With all of these things said. You must go about it with strategy. You can’t just uproot everything and go on an expedition.

Turning your life around doesn’t mean you as a 40 year old with 3 kids and a mortgage to pay, it’s just irresponsible to up and leave and have your wife worrying about everything.

It’s a process. Take it one step at a time. Slowly replace the old with the new. Start your side hustle, but with the intention of growing it to one day take over as your main hustle.

Hopefully my personal experience and world view has some kind of positive influence over you. If you’re still not sure what’s right for you, don’t hesitate to reach out to me on any of my socials at http://drburgerflipper.com

How I can help you:

Here’s the planner I made and used everyday to help myself achieve my daily goals:

Feel free to reach out to me for emotional support as well, especially if you’re a medical student or doctor going through BS. Trust me I know, and I am here for you.

Email me if you are interested in becoming a content creator, and we’ll figure out a way to get you started. (FREE for now)