Leaving Medicine, Finding Purpose: How I Rebuilt My Life with Love

It feels like just yesterday—and yet also a lifetime ago—that this wild and wonderful journey began.

I am still me. And yet, I am also entirely different from the person I was five years ago.

The decision to leave my medical practice and leadership roles was one of the hardest of my life. It required a level of courage and trust I didn’t know I had within me. What has followed has been a transformation as profound as medical school or residency—only this time, the learning has been about life itself.

In the past five years, I have stepped into roles I never imagined for myself: professional speaker, podcaster, retreat leader, yoga teacher, organic farmer, floral designer, and triple-certified coach. I have created spaces for healing and self-discovery, designed a yoga studio, tended to an orchard, and supported countless others in their own personal transformations. Along the way, I have also become an unofficial student of business, leadership, and the art of truly seeing people.

All of this between the ages of 50 and 55.

And yet, I am not exhausted.

This morning, I woke up filled with energy.

Because every step of this journey has come from the heart.

Pause & Presence was built by answering a single question: What would love do?

For me.
For you.
For the well-being of my colleagues.
For our patients.
For the future of medicine.
For my marriage, my children, and the generations to come.
For the world we all share.

Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen writes about seeing with your heart in Happy Birthday to the World:

“At this time in the history of things, it would be easy to be overwhelmed by despair and blinded by judgment, so paralyzed by fear that we feel powerless to make a difference. But we are all each enough, just as we are, to make a difference.”

“If you see with your heart, you can heal the world.”

This has been my guiding light.

“It is the difference between seeing in color and in black and white.”
“It is seeing not just the acorn in your hand, but the great oak tree.”
“When you see with your heart, you see the light that is hidden in everyone and everything.”

This is what I do. It is what I help others do. And it is what the world so deeply needs.

I create, lead, and teach from my heart.
I help others reconnect to theirs.
Because this is where clarity and direction are found.
Where passion, purpose, and meaning live.
Where relationships heal, and deep connection grows.

To everyone who has joined me—on a retreat, in coaching, through yoga, the podcast, or a talk—I am deeply grateful. If you have not yet joined me at Pause & Presence, I invite you to.

“To see with your heart is to see the future.”

"One spark at a time, we can change the world back to what it was meant to be—whole and filled with light."- Rachel Naomi Remen, MD

———

How Following My Heart Transformed My Life After Medicine

From Physician to Healer: A Journey of Courage, Change, and Clarity

The Power of Seeing with Your Heart: My Journey Beyond Medicine

What Would Love Do? A Doctor’s Journey to a More Meaningful Life

Reinventing Yourself at 50: Lessons from My Transformation

How I Found Energy, Purpose, and Joy After Leaving My Medical Career

The Leap from Medicine to Meaning: How I Created a Life I Love

From Overworked to Inspired: How I Found My True Calling

Healing Beyond the Hospital: My Path to Purpose, Passion, and Peace