You’re welcome! I hope you can find a way to start to be more open with yourself. One thing that has helped me is to think about what I’d say to a friend if she were telling me the things I’m saying or thinking. Then say that to yourself. You’ll be surprised about how much more judgmental and mean we are to ourselves than we are to our friends. I have also found that if you can get yourself into a little bit of action, you’ll start to see that your fears will either get smaller, or you’ll just work right through them. It’s all the thinking and no action that keeps us so stuck. So if you try business school and don’t like it, what’s the worst that can happen? At least you will have taken some action. Our path is rarely a straight line. I know mine wasn’t, and that is what makes this life more interesting!

Adina, that makes sense that you would judge her. I wonder if you are judging yourself as much as you judged her, which also could be keeping you stuck? What do you think? You are not a cry baby, or a loser. It is okay to not enjoy dentistry. It doesn’t make you a bad person.

Eric, thanks so much! I agree about the peers. I think we need to bring light to this judgmental behavior that we as a group have toward each other. Whether it’s teachers at school, people who go into public health, or a business like Barbara’s, we tend to say that someone left private practice because they couldn’t hack it. It’s just not true, and it’s such an unfair judgment!

All those things you listed did make this happen for her. Do you ever think that something like this happens so effortlessly or seamlessly for us because it’s what we are meant to be doing? It’s like it all falls in place when it’s right. I’m guessing you feel that way about what you do now.