I will definitely not say that. I wish I spent more time in the office and operating room. But I don’t think I will wish that I had spent less time either. I was with my wife on vacation on the beach. We had a relationship where we could talk honestly with one another. While we were walking on the beach, I said this is a wonderful pleasure. But taking care of children is a wonderful pleasure also. The former is more like a pleasure, and the latter more a giving pleasure. now looking back I see that walking on the beach could be seen as a taking pleasure or a giving pleasure. Giving satisfaction and pleasure to my wife, knowing she had a husband who wants to spend time with her. But at the time I made a realization that between giving pleasure and taking pleasures, giving one is much better. Much more filling and fulfilling.The easy answer is to transition to a lighter schedule. A surgeon is going to have the bargaining power to set a lighter schedule, or to take sabbaticals, if you want to do traveling but then return to work. That way you stay in the game, keep your position and prestige, but are able to carve out more time for yourself, family, and enjoying things like travel when you're young enough to enjoy it more. If you get burned out, you can also move to a different area, a sort of pre-retirement destination where you can also still work part-time. It's possible you'll develop or discover new desires that require more leisure, or want to do certain things that require more leisure, so just be flexible. I retired when I was 43, and have tried and pivoted between different pursuits. There's a saying that nobody ever listed "I wish I'd have spent more days in the office" as an epitaph, but then I for a lot of people, not having an office puts lessens the quality and length of their life, as well as too much togetherness potentially putting a lot of strain on a marriage (the other common retirement saying, "I married you for better or for worse, but not for lunch").
Statistics: Posted by KBR — Mon Jan 29, 2024 10:00 am — Replies 141 — Views 8629