My last move

Intern year is coming to an end and I could not be happier. Despite the awfulness and struggle of this year, it's a little bittersweet, partly because I have met some good people, but mostly because I hate change. Mostly, it means I have to move again, cross-country, for the third time in five years.

I'm moving to take advantage of an amazing opportunity in a fun city with lots of close friends, which is a nice change from this past year. I will be starting a job in orthopaedic research in a department that appears supportive of helping me achieve my goal of eventually matching into ortho at some point in the future. I'm excited for so many reasons, and I believe it's a step in the right direction both personally and professionally.

Having said all that, I've decided this will be my last move in pursuit of being an orthopaedic surgeon. If this doesn't work out or turns into a dead end, I'm done. I'm not moving for another research spot or another prelim year or another hope that things will eventually work out.*

I'm mentally exhausted from having such an uncertain future, and uprooting and relocating annually to pursue this pipe dream that may never happen has added even more stress onto an incredibly stressful situation.

What I've desired most throughout my entire life is stability and this is quite the opposite of that. This past year has taught me that there is more to life than work and I'm ready to prioritize my personal goals over my professional ones for the first time in years.

I still plan on busting my butt over the next year to impress my superiors and work towards an orthopaedic residency because ortho is what I really love and want to do. But I'm also coming to terms with the fact that the process of achieving that goal may not be worth it and that there will come a time to let that dream go.

I haven't gotten to the point yet where I'm ready to move on. I have a few more tries left in me but I also don't want it to come at the expense of my sanity. While I plan to pursue ortho for the near future, I'm also not going to keep putting my life on hold and sacrifice my personal life to the extent I did this past year.

While I cannot control my professional stability at this point in life, I am going to work very hard at feeling fulfilled and stable in my personal life, which is where the "No more moves" rule comes into play.

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* The exception to this is moving for a categorical orthopaedic residency position. That's about the only reason I would move away from my new city. That, and family. Family trumps all.