In this solo episode, I am opening up about a big life change. I recently resigned from my clinical job. On paper it may sound simple, but the story under it holds a lot of layers, emotion, and growth.

I talk about what led to my decision, what it brought up from my childhood, and how this shift is changing the way I raise my kids. If you grew up chasing safety, grades, or approval, parts of this will feel familiar.

I get into:

• Why leaving a “stable” job can feel scary even when it is the right move

• Growing up with fear of failure and how that shaped my choices

• How the healthcare system wore me down over time

• The grief that comes with leaving patients, residents, and a place that shaped me

• Panic, burnout, and the signs your body gives you before your mind catches up

• How I want my kids to think about failure, risk, and self trust

• Why security matters and why quitting is not always simple or possible

• What it means to choose alignment even when fear is in the room

Check out more on ⁠Poppins⁠ as I step into a new role there 

00:00 – What Bravery Really Means
01:06 – Welcome and Finding Joy Returns
02:35 – Growing Up With Fear of Failure
03:48 – Why Medicine Felt Safe
04:25 – Burnout and Losing Alignment
04:46 – Building PedsDocTalk
05:31 – Signs It Was Time to Leave
06:45 – Choosing Risk and Entrepreneurship
07:46 – Grief, Loyalty, and Letting Go
09:09 – When the System Moves On Without You
09:53 – Breaking Generational Patterns
10:15 – What I Want My Kids to Learn
11:44 – Choosing Yourself Despite Uncertainty
12:45 – Questions to Find Your Own Alignment
13:30 – Closing and What’s Next

Our podcasts are also now on YouTube. If you prefer a video podcast with closed captioning, check us out there and⁠ ⁠subscribe to PedsDocTalk⁠⁠.

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00;00;00;04 – 00;00;24;13

Dr. Mona

I want my kids to know that bravery isn’t loud or flashy. It isn’t the absence of fear. It’s the quiet courage of being scared and still taking one small step forward. And that can be bravery. Being afraid and still moving. That’s where alignment actually starts. I don’t want them growing up thinking that they have to wait until they feel confident to move, or wait until they have every answer, or wait until the path looks perfect.

 

00;00;24;15 – 00;00;41;22

Dr. Mona

I want them to learn that fear can sit in the passenger seat, but it doesn’t get to drive, that you can feel shaky and still choose the path that feels right, that you can feel uncertain and still choose yourself.

 

00;00;41;25 – 00;01;06;20

Dr. Mona

Hey, friends, it’s Doctor Mona. Welcome back to the PedsDocTalk podcast. This is my first solo episode of the year, and I just want to start with a huge thank you. Your support means everything because of you. This show sat in the top 30 parenting podcast in the United States. All of 2025, which blows my mind. So thank you for listening, subscribing and downloading.

 

00;01;06;25 – 00;01;19;07

Dr. Mona

And if you haven’t hit that subscribe button or downloaded episodes yet, please do, because that’s what helps the show continue to grow.

 

00;01;19;10 – 00;01;38;04

Dr. Mona

Today I want to talk about big life changes, the discomfort that comes with them, and how I’m using this shift as a chance to raise our kids differently. And before we get into it, I want to say something for those of you who have been here for a long time listening to this show, some of my most downloaded solo episodes have been from what I call the finding Joy series.

 

00;01;38;06 – 00;01;54;15

Dr. Mona

Those episodes where we talk about decisions, mental health, identity, and the behind the scenes part of life that shapes how we show up as parents. It has been a while since I’ve introduced these regularly to the show. I did one at the end of last year about anger, which was a huge hit, and today we’re bringing it back.

 

00;01;54;15 – 00;02;14;15

Dr. Mona

Finding joy, resigning from my clinical job and what’s next for me because Joy is not always this light, happy thing. Sometimes it comes from the hard stuff, from the honest moments, from the changes that feel scary in the beginning. And that’s exactly where the story lives. This episode is personal, it’s tender, and if you hear it and think, why is it such a big deal?

 

00;02;14;15 – 00;02;35;06

Dr. Mona

She resigned from her job. I get it on paper. I left a job. People do it all the time, but the story underneath is what makes it a little different. If you grew up with immigrant parents, if you were raised to fear failure, and or if you’ve lived your life choosing the safe path over the fulfilling one, then this is going to make sense.

 

00;02;35;08 – 00;02;56;07

Dr. Mona

Because this wasn’t just a career move for me, this was unlearning decades of conditioning. This is choosing alignment instead of fear. And this was realizing that the job I felt guilty leaving was the same job that stopped valuing me a long time ago. So let me take you back for a moment. I was raised by amazing Indian immigrant parents who came to the United States in the 70s.

 

00;02;56;09 – 00;03;23;23

Dr. Mona

Education and hard work were not just values, they were survival. Stability was everything. If you didn’t study hard or you didn’t get the safe job, you risked everything they had worked for. So as a kid, failure felt dangerous. Performance was everything. I remember getting a C on a midterm report card in an AP class, and being so scared of disappointing my dad that I intercepted the mailman, threw the report card away and convinced him the school only sent semester grades and he, believe me.

 

00;03;23;26 – 00;03;48;08

Dr. Mona

And at UCLA, when I got my first C in physics as a bright eyed, bushy tailed pre-med at one of the toughest pre-med programs in the country, I sat in the courtyard and cried like my life was over. I truly believed that that grade meant I would never become a doctor. So yes, grades and safety were the air I breathe and medicine, even though it is not easy, felt safe.

 

00;03;48;10 – 00;04;06;13

Dr. Mona

You go to work, you care for your patients. You go home, you get a paycheck, secure. Really little risk in terms of stability. Except life evolves. And at some point you have to ask yourself, what would I want my kids to see me choose here? Fear or alignment? My clinical job is where I grew up as a doctor, where I became a mom.

 

00;04;06;13 – 00;04;25;00

Dr. Mona

It’s where I walk through infertility conceiving Bura. It’s where I survived the hardest parts of the pandemic. It’s where I taught resident who reminded me why teaching feels like home, and it held so many sweet memories with families I cared for. I have been practicing for ten years out of residency, two years in New York City and eight years in Florida.

 

00;04;25;03 – 00;04;46;12

Dr. Mona

But the system, a modern health care system as it stands, fully chipped away at me. Shorter visits, less autonomy, more boxes, less connection. And at some point, I felt more like a cog in a wheel than a pediatrician. My value is being placed on volume versus quality, and I went into medicine for quality care. And at the same time, pedes doc talk was growing.

 

00;04;46;15 – 00;05;09;13

Dr. Mona

I could explain things to parents in a way that actually landed. I could help them feel calmer instead of overwhelmed. And that voice, that style, that connection, started turning into something I never saw coming. I was getting opportunities I never dreamed of speaking events, broadcast segment stores I never thought would open for me were suddenly opening. I was using my education and my expertise in ways that lit me up.

 

00;05;09;16 – 00;05;31;11

Dr. Mona

And honestly, the way I was treated in those spaces showed me something I didn’t want to admit. I was met with respect, with gratitude, with warmth. People appreciated my work. They valued my time and what I brought to the table. And that was becoming a sharp contrast to what I was slowly losing in my clinical job. The lack of appreciation, the constant grind, the slow burn that leads to burnout.

 

00;05;31;14 – 00;05;47;19

Dr. Mona

It was becoming clear that the places where I felt seen were the places where I was actually meant to grow. And if you’re wondering how to tell when a job is no longer aligned, here’s what helped me see it clearly. Your body starts reacting before your mind does the sandy dread, the tight chest, the countdown to the weekend.

 

00;05;47;22 – 00;06;05;13

Dr. Mona

For me, it was panic attacks during the pandemic while driving to work that was tied to another location of my practice where I felt very undervalued. And thankfully I was able to switch. But the impact on my mental health was real. You stop growing as a physician because the system won’t make space for it. You’re doing good work, but you’re not treated like you matter.

 

00;06;05;15 – 00;06;25;16

Dr. Mona

Your strengths feel minimized instead of supported. And your world outside of work starts shrinking because the job takes more than it gives, especially emotionally. Those are my signs. And maybe yours looks different, but I share them because we all get good at ignoring what our body tries to tell us. So I cut down to part time, then one day a week.

 

00;06;25;19 – 00;06;45;24

Dr. Mona

At the time, it felt risky because PDT wasn’t a source of income. Looking back now, that was nothing compared to the sleep I’m now making. Entrepreneurship as the face of Pete’s Doctor has been its own roller coaster. And for someone raised to fear failure, it was shocking. The rejection, the algorithm, the slow seasons, the self-doubt, the feelings of being misunderstood.

 

00;06;45;24 – 00;07;07;02

Dr. Mona

The way people assume social media is silly. All of it. But every time I questioned it, Pete’s doctor kept pulling me forward. The messages from parents, the community we built, the impact. It kept me going. Even when my brain wanted to retreat to the safer path. Then came Poppins, a startup company. Another thing that felt risky for my upbringing.

 

00;07;07;04 – 00;07;26;27

Dr. Mona

And yet, it felt right. I had been working behind the scenes, creating protocols, mentoring the team and shaping care. They believed in my ideas. They believed in my voice. And they asked me to step in as their chief medical officer while still practicing and having my platform. I could have stayed at my clinical job and done Poppins pop and supported that.

 

00;07;26;29 – 00;07;46;19

Dr. Mona

But my practice would not be on board. And trying to juggle everything would have taken me away from my family and from the work I give to this community. So I took a breath and I said yes. But saying yes meant I had to resign. And this is where it got hard. The true definition of bittersweet. I was sad leaving.

 

00;07;46;19 – 00;08;05;19

Dr. Mona

Like truly leaving my patients, leaving the residence, leaving the walls where I grew up as a doctor. After eight years at that practice, that is no small thing. And on paper, it makes no sense to be this emotional about a place that also burned me out. But here’s the honest truth. Medicine bonds you to a system in a way most people never experience.

 

00;08;05;22 – 00;08;27;08

Dr. Mona

My husband and I joke, but it’s actually kind of serious that medical training feels like a hazing. You go through the hardest years of your life. Long hours, high pressure, low pay, impossible expectations. You pour so much of yourself into it that you come out bonded to the system, even if that system doesn’t always serve you well. It’s like this strange mix of pride, exhaustion, and loyalty.

 

00;08;27;14 – 00;08;50;03

Dr. Mona

You survive it together. You grow up inside of it. You sacrifice so much of your time, education and years for it. And all of that makes it really hard to walk away, even when you know it’s the right thing to do. Now let’s take a quick break to hear from our sponsors who support helps us keep bringing you this show.

 

00;08;50;05 – 00;09;08;28

Dr. Mona

So yes, I was grieving. I was saying goodbye to a version of myself. Goodbye to the families who shaped me. Goodbye to the residents who energized me. And bye to a chapter that helped both my hardest moments and my most meaningful ones. But here is the part that hurt. And this is something I want people to hear clearly.

 

00;09;09;00 – 00;09;31;21

Dr. Mona

There was no goodbye from leadership. No text, no email. No thank you. Nothing. My name disappeared from the website. My email was shut off and that was it. And honestly, that kind of hurt because it reminded me of something a lot of people need to hear. Sometimes the job you are scared to leave is the same job that would replace you the next morning after you go.

 

00;09;31;23 – 00;09;53;17

Dr. Mona

We pour loyalty and guilt and fear into places that would move on instantly. We shrink ourselves to fit systems that don’t value us, and we tell ourselves the safe choice is to stay. The safety is not the same as belonging. So yes, leaving felt uneasy. And it still does. Because this is the first time I chose the uncertain path on purpose.

 

00;09;53;24 – 00;10;15;23

Dr. Mona

The first time I trusted myself more than the system. The first time I stepped into something that depends on my ideas and my voice. This is not just leaving a job. It was breaking a generational pattern. The pattern that says choose security over joy. Choose predictability over purpose. Choose fear over growth. And now here’s what I want my kids to see in all this.

 

00;10;15;25 – 00;10;36;25

Dr. Mona

Failure is not dangerous. Their worth is not tied to grades or titles. They can try, mess up, learn, pivot, and still be loved. They can chase alignment, not approval. I want my kids to know that bravery isn’t loud or flashy. It isn’t the absence of fear. It’s the quiet courage of being scared and still taking one small step forward.

 

00;10;36;27 – 00;11;02;13

Dr. Mona

And that can be bravery. Being afraid and still moving. That’s where alignment actually starts. I don’t want them growing up thinking that they have to wait until they feel confident to move, or wait until they have every answer, or wait until the path looks perfect. I want them to learn that fear can sit in the passenger seat, but it doesn’t get to drive, that you can feel shaky and still choose the path that feels right, that you can feel uncertain and still choose yourself.

 

00;11;02;15 – 00;11;21;18

Dr. Mona

And the only way they learn that is by watching me live it. I don’t want them hiding report cards. I don’t want them crying in courtyards thinking one moment defines their future. I want them steady enough to take chances, steady enough to believe in themselves, steady enough to trust what they’re good at and where they shine. That’s the legacy I want to lead them.

 

00;11;21;21 – 00;11;44;20

Dr. Mona

Not perfection. Not safety at all costs. Just courage. Simple. Steady courage. So here I am, stepping into Pete’s dark talk, fully stepping into Poppins, the start up, stepping into the life that matches who I am now. And it feels right. Even with the nerves. Even with the unknowns. And I know many of you are thinking, why does it feel so uncertain?

 

00;11;44;22 – 00;12;05;10

Dr. Mona

I’m relying on a social media platform, and I’m relying on a startup to dictate my career. Startups don’t always succeed. Social media platforms can be gone in an instant, but I’m taking a chance on myself. If you’re listening and you’re stuck in a job or situation that drains you, or you feel scared to leave something that no longer fits.

 

00;12;05;13 – 00;12;23;21

Dr. Mona

I want to add some nuance here. People love to say, just quit believing a hard job. It’s not that simple. I went part time in 2021 with a lot of fear, and it felt okay because we had paid off our medical school debt. Security matters, however you define it. For some people, it’s health insurance, for others, it’s a paycheck they rely on.

 

00;12;23;21 – 00;12;45;19

Dr. Mona

For many, it’s the stability their family depends on. So I never judge anyone for staying, and I never pretend walking away and doing this is easy. But I will say this if something is not serving you well or it has stopped feeling aligned. Ask yourself, is there a way out? Maybe not today, maybe not this year. But is there a path, even a slow one, towards something healthier?

 

00;12;45;21 – 00;13;08;23

Dr. Mona

Life is too short to be miserable at work, and it’s a privilege to even be able to see that. I know that I carry that. If you’re trying to figure out your own next steps, here are two simple questions that help me. What part of my life feels heavy because it no longer matches who I am now, and what small shift, not a giant leap, could bring me closer to feeling aligned.

 

00;13;08;25 – 00;13;30;17

Dr. Mona

Sometimes it’s not a full career change. Sometimes it’s setting one boundary. Sometimes it’s asking for help. Sometimes it’s remembering you’re a whole person outside your job. So keep following the show. Keep following Pete’s doctor. Keep an eye on what we’re building a Poppins. Hey Poppins on Instagram. There’s so much coming. And remember, you’re allowed to grow. You are allowed to choose joy.

 

00;13;30;17 – 00;13;42;16

Dr. Mona

You’re allowed to shift your life even when others do not get it. Thank you for being here. Thank you for supporting this work. And thank you for walking with me into what’s next.

 

00;13;42;19 – 00;14;01;16

Dr. Mona

Remember to support the show. Subscribe. Download. Those downloads are would help and share your favorite episodes because it means so much to allow the show to continue to grow. And don’t forget, I may be seeing you as a patient on Poppins. So join the platform, learn more about it so you can see where I’m at and how I’m seeing patients.

 

00;14;01;18 – 00;14;08;25

Dr. Mona

Can’t wait to have more amazing conversations on this podcast coming your way soon! Stay well and have a wonderful week ahead.