Work–Life Balance? It Is Not about Balance, but Priorities

Work–life balance is a never ending topic of discussion among physicians. We constantly discuss how to juggle career advancement, marriage, and children in our daily professional life. Work always seems to be antagonistic to, rather than synergistic with, maintaining a personal life. However, true balance does not sink in until a moment arrives in your life when you consider giving up your career. After finishing my critical care fellowship, things seemed to be going fairly well in my life. I had my family, my house, my job as a critical care physician, and my passion to do research. I love my work and am truly honored by the privilege to work with critically ill children and their families, who need good clinical advice and help to make the best decision for their precious ones. Yes, there are difficult moments physically and mentally for myself and my staff, but the fact that I can contribute to someone's critical life decisions has always motivated me and kept me going. Despite being discouraged from pursuing a career as a physician scientist, I was stubborn enough to work hard and to obtain grants to launch my research projects. I was warned that I would have little success in balancing my life between my family, job as a critical care physician and role as a researcher. However, I enjoyed every painful, fun moment writing manuscripts and IRB applications and tried to collaborate with researchers from multiple disciplines. My view of medicine became wider and richer through research. When I met successful female physician scientists through the K 12 program and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) meeting, I was especially energized and the discouraging words against pursuing a career as a physician scientist faded away. Knowing that everybody goes through the same stage of life (struggling with career, family, and/or research) made me think that I am not alone in feeling overwhelmed and undervalued. During weekdays, I did not mind working long hours as a single mother with my daughter while my husband was in training 1500 miles away. We only spent precious time as a united family during the weekend and went back to work doing research or being on service and taking calls in the ICU every Monday night. I still worked at night after my daughter went to sleep and took advantage of my husband being with my daughter during weekends. …