I recently talked with a reader who's still in training. She wanted advice on balancing work and life while being a mom, clinician, and wife. As I began to explain my own path from medical student to resident to physician, which coincided with becoming a wife as well as a mother, I realized that I didn't have the solution to work-life nirvana.
In fact, the approaches I used changed with my life stage and my different professional roles. At various times, I may have had limited after-hours meetings or sought out roles for which after-hours meetings were expected. Sometimes, my husband and I adjusted our family to my very demanding call schedule. At other times, I adjusted my clinical practice to the demands of my children.
There were no absolutes — just the discovery that as my career progressed and my family changed, my desire to honor both the professional and personal aspects of my life required making different choices.
When my husband and I were first married, we prioritized our professional training over the ability to live in the same city. This worked for us, possibly better than if we had lived together, because we both had very long hours and the time we did have together was valued and protected.
