Cool Creek Family Health is 2 years old!! But that is not what I want to talk about today.
The picture on the right was me over 2 years ago. I had everything I was wishing for when I was a broke grad student with a three-nager and another baby on the way.
I had done it: Secured the dream job. Family of five. Live in a nice house in Indiana. What more could I want? Nothing…I wanted LESS.
Within just 3 years of working at a big box primary care clinic, I was burned out. Seeing so many patients each day, my day was broken up into “before lunch” and “after lunch” segments. My memory was foggy. Transcribing my conversations from patient to a computer left me unable to retain longer, meaningful conversations. Stress was high trying to meet administration’s demands. I was the highest producing NP in my area and I only made the 50% bonus RVU benchmark. The solution I was told, “switch to shorter visits so you can see more patients.” Despite eating healthy and working out regularly, I was gaining weight and always felt fatigued. How was I supposed to inspire lifestyle changes and healthy habits, if I am not feeling healthy myself?
The picture on the left is me now. 2 years into starting my own direct primary care practice. I took all I had and I made it “less.” We lived off of less money. We drank less. We even exercised less. I chart less. I type less. We took all our stress and made it less. I am now happier than I have been in a long time, I feel more like my old self again and most importantly feel healthy.
So next time someone asks you, “what MORE could you want?” Maybe you could do more with LESS?
