About

I finally and wrote my letter of resignation.  I had had enough of busy clinics, demanding and aggressive patients, increasing paperwork, decreasing funding and low morale. Too many rules and regulations, too many forms to fill in and too much talk of being ‘on target’.

I wanted to be more creative and do things I had no time for when I was busy with the demands of a family and work. However, not everyone saw things my way; my colleagues did their best to dissuade me. They told me I was too young to retire, that I was good at my job, that the patients would miss me, and that I would miss the work. 

What are you going to do with yourself, won’t you be bored, they asked. I asked myself the same but I knew what I wanted to do.

I trained as a Life Coach, and enjoyed my new life.

I learned a way of looking at problems and of helping people find their own solutions. As a doctor I was supposed to be the expert. When I qualified as a doctor there was a paternalistic attitude to the patient/doctor relationship. Interactions with patients were:  'Here is my problem, what can you do about it?' As the doctor I used my skill and experience to decide the source of the problem. 'Here is a prescription. Take these' or ' you need to see a specialist.'

As a Life Coach I used a different approach. I brought my life experiences and my training to my coaching. I helped my clients find their own answers to their difficulties.   I helped them recognise their time wasters and work out ways to get rid of these and find the time to do what they wanted to do.  I encouraged them to eliminate time wasters, delegate some tasks, to do others more efficiently and to drop some ‘to do’s completely.  In this way they could enjoy life and feel more balanced. They realised that what they dreamt of doing was within their grasp if they work out what are their first steps.

Now retired from Coaching and Medicine I’m writing and painting, keeping my mind and body flexible and enjoying life.