When people ask me what I do I generally have to change the subject asap.

I’ve been a General Practitioner in the NHS for the past 4 years but when I’m asked about it, its like a dark storm cloud gathers above and rains down a shower of negativity on everyone.

I love the idea of helping people with my medical knowledge, but knowledge without the resources to act, decomposes the passion and soul. 15 years, almost half of my life has been spent up until this realisation.

Like me many people get stuck at this point because they’ve had to fix their mind on a single outcome to progress, blocking out thoughts of anything outside of this area.

The mind becomes closed and inflexible, therefore requires a great amount of energy and intention to open back up. Unfortunately all your energy is already being consumed by your current job and its only by burning through this that we finally decide enough is enough we’ve burnt out and must recover.

What to do when you Burnout?

Pause! This is the time to reflect deeply before making any decisions.

You may be tempted to make a big change and try something completely new. I tried this with software engineering, after 9 months I knew it wasn’t right either.

Here’s what I wish I’d done:

1. List all the aspects of your previous career/job that didn’t feel right.

2.  List all the skills you have as a result of your experience and personality.

3.  List everything that you love about your career/job.

4.  List all your interests.

These 4 lists should start to put things in perspective. The idea is to help generate ideas for alternative jobs that focus more on your positives.

Think of as many jobs as you can, be open minded here and allow yourself to dream free of any assumptions or self-imposed barriers.

For each job go through the lists you’ve made and score them based on the negative and positive criteria from the lists. Add up the total scores and then start researching the top 3.

Try and expose yourself to as many different sources of information as you can. e.g YouTube videos, podcasts, books, webinars, forums.

Notice how I say ‘didn’t feel right’

Hate is too strong of an emotion and may cloud your judgement when considering alternative jobs.

Before I considered software engineering I ‘hated’ having to tolerate abusive encounters with toxic members of public. I made a rash decision to work with computers and avoid contact with people altogether. I convinced myself that if I eliminated this aspect that I would enjoy my job.

Just because you may hate one aspect of your job doesn't mean you will love any job that minimises this aspect.

The oppression of Moral Obligation

Teaching, Health and Social care careers are typically more difficult to transition out of. You are working in an environment that does not want you to change. There will be resistance externally from the culture and internally from your own sense of moral justice.

You may here echoes to the tune of:

• Its a priviledge to be of service, the prestige of the job and sense of vocation makes it worthwhile.

• You’re financially better off than the majority of people so you shouldn’t complain.

• Once you find the right practice/school/institution/colleagues/support system it will be better.

And I will probably have to talk about the stockholm syndrome related to working as a clinician in NHS hospitals in another letter.

Focus on yourself and what you need to thrive, do the exercise above and develop the strength to overcome objections from people who are stuck inside the box.

Make sure you speak to people outside the box who have done what you want to do, there perspective is invaluable.

Think of your working environment/culture in terms of the box above.

Everyone is drawn in towards the groups gravitational pull. Only those that generate enough force are able to escape.

Why I became a Life Coach

I recognised after I’d cut off all thoughts of having any patient contact that I actually did value working with people but that I needed to be in a different environmental context.

I still wanted to use the communication skills I’d learnt training to be a GP in a way that gave value and felt satisying for me and those I sought to help.

With this in mind, when a mentor suggested becoming a life coach a light flickered in my brain.

I approached my research as any sceptical scientist would.

Was this just spiritual gurus with over inflated egos proclaiming their ideology as the solution to all peoples problems?

I certainly couldn't identify with this stereotype. But after learning more I realised that the moments as a GP that had truly stimulated me...

I'm talking goosebumps, heart filling, beaming with pride moments!

…had occurred when I'd coached patients from A to B, witnessing their transformation and sharing their success!

I felt a strong pull towards Life Coaching, I craved more of these deep moments and I love exploring peoples minds.

I'm a natural introverted listener who has heard thousands of people share vulnerable moments of their life.

Everyone has unique stories, strengths, values, beliefs and perceived mental barriers. These combine to give their map of the world.

As a GP I'm limited in how I can apply this information due to the consultation time.

As a life coach I have the time to actually use my listening skills to dive deep and ask the questions that motivate change and lead to powerful moments of realisation.

Its a collaborative process that guides the person to find the answer within themselves and therefore empower them rather than become dependent on a higher authority.

Thats all for now.

Thank you for reading and I hope you will join me for the start of this journey.

Lewis