05/02/2022

Friends of Franz Podcast S1 E17: Life After Medicine with Dr. Chelsea Turgeon

Have you ever felt like you were stuck in someplace that you did not want to be in? Have you ever thought that you needed to escape a situation that you were deep into but afraid of the unknown next steps? Have you ever envisioned a different life than what you are living now? Have you ever felt unhappy with the choices in life that you have made thus far and wanted to start all over again but were afraid of what others would say about you? And if not others...what would you feel about yourself? For so long, these voices of shame, misery, fear, and desperation for egress clouded the heart and mind of our episode's guest.

Matching in the specialty of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Dr. Chelsea Turgeon resigned from her residency two years into the program. In our conversation, she recounts that exact moment when she decided to drop out of the medical journey and immediately book airplane tickets to South Korea with a temporary new role as an English teacher. Years later, she has paved the same way of rerouting burnt-out paths for other professional women within the sphere of healthcare as a digital nomad and career coach.

From the realization of her motivations in initially pursuing medicine to those crushing moments of burnout and unhappiness during medical school and residency that led her to ultimately fulfill her exodus from the path of medicine that she worked so hard and sacrificed so many things up for, we take a deep dive into what Dr. Turgeon believes is most in this short lifetime: doing what you love. We are taken into a vulnerable discussion of how, at the end of the day, no amount of titles, money, or prestige can ever satiate a burnt-out and unhappy heart.