015: The Family Meeting: Making Your Career Shift Without Losing Their Support

In this episode, Dr. Kristine shares a heartfelt conversation with her mother about stepping away from traditional hospital medicine to build a flexible, location-independent life abroad. They explore fears, misconceptions, and the powerful support system needed for such bold transitions, offering insights for physicians and families alike.

Key Topics:

• The initial emotional reaction of a parent to a child's decision to live abroad
• The fears of safety, healthcare, and social isolation when moving overseas
• How parents’ fears stem from a lack of experience and the need for faith
• The importance of evidence and community support in overcoming parental concerns
• Strategies for partners and spouses to embrace a location-flexible lifestyle
• The value of trial periods and the reassurance that the move can be reversed
• The role of upbringing and values in supporting children’s adventurous pursuits
• Practical advice for parents supporting children in big life changes
• The significance of faith, trust, and letting go of control
• Personal growth as a parent through witnessing children live their dreams

Want weekly insider tips on becoming a location-independent doctor? Join the Nomad MD Weekly Newsletter

Are you a doctor ready to secure your first remote contract in 90 days and make hospital income optional? Book your 1:1 freedom consultation call

Connect with us on Instagram: @thenomadmds

Learn more about Nomad MD: thenomadmd.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

When I told my mother that I was leaving hospital medicine and moving abroad, she said four words to me You're not going anywhere. That was her response. Today, we are meeting in Tulume next weekend and Italy the month after that. This episode is the conversation we've never actually had about what it was like for her watching me make this decision, what she was afraid of, and how she came around. If you have a parent, a partner, a family member, or a spouse who isn't on board with the transition that you want to make in medicine yet, this one is for them too. And if you are ready to build the remote income and flexible work schedule, concrete evidence of creating a new life in medicine that you can actually show the people you love. I do one-on-one Freedom Calls where we map that out specifically for your specialty in your situation. The link is in the show notes. Let's get into it. You're listening to Doctors Abroad, the podcast for doctors who want to build remote income and create location independence. I'm Dr. Christine Going, founder of Nomad MD. I've exceeded my hospital income while working part-time and living abroad. And on this show, we break down how to make hospital income optional. Let's get started. Okay. Mom, does it feel weird that we're like this is the first time we're having this conversation on a podcast?

SPEAKER_03 1:42

Yes, it's the first time we're having the conversation, and having the conversation on a podcast is definitely even weirder. But yes. But it's a good conversation to have. And it's a needed conversation. So Okay, awesome.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

So when I first told you that I was thinking about leaving hospital medicine and moving abroad, what was your first reaction? Like, what did you think?

SPEAKER_03 2:11

First reaction was like Gary Coleman on the on different strokes. Like, what are you talking about, Willis? Because I couldn't understand what why you would want to do that. Why? You had a great job, you had your own practice, you were living life easily. I mean, financially you were secure, you were living in the apartment you wanted to, you had the career that most people would dream of. And, you know, in my mind, so I was wondering, why would we want to change all of a sudden to traveling the world? Like, what was that all about? I didn't quite understand it. I couldn't comprehend it. It didn't make sense to me. That's that's that's my reaction. I was just like, I don't, I don't, I don't like this. I don't like it.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Yeah. What what was it that you didn't like about it? Like, was there a specific part? I know you mentioned like the career, like it already seemed like a career that different people aspired to, the money. Was there a part that worried you most? About being abroad? Yes.

SPEAKER_03 3:12

Yes. Um when you when you made the announcement, don't forget it came after the pandemic, right? So, you know, my mom died at the beginning of the pandemic. People were dying, you know, just from, you know, a respiratory situation, and everything was uncertain. My neighbor was uncertain. My neighborhood was uncertain. Of course, the world and abroad was very uncertain for me. It was a scary time for everyone. So for you to say, oh, I want to go abroad, fear, a lot of fear. Not to mention you're a single woman. You're what, 119 soaking wet? I got suitcases that's heavier than you. And you're only like five, four. There's trafficking is real. Being in uh other places and other countries where maybe you be an American may not be something that they want to hear, something that's positive, something that's accepted. All of that, along with health care. You know, are you gonna have proper health care? Are you gonna be able to follow up on your health care? What about your social environment? Are you gonna have friends? How are you not gonna be alone? How are you not gonna be isolated? How about, you know, I'm afraid of, you know, safety. I'm legally, can you do this abroad? Can you, can you have your own practice? How are you gonna make it financially? What are you gonna do? How about tax? You gotta pay taxes. Um, how all of that's gonna work itself out for you? Um, and I didn't, I didn't, I couldn't comprehend it because I never experienced it. I never knew anything about it. I heard other people doing it, but it's not something that I alone have heard or knew anybody that did it or had any information about. So it was it was just a scary time.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

It's a very scary time. Yeah, I can understand that. Did you feel like I wasn't thinking it through? Absolutely. You couldn't have thought it through.

SPEAKER_03 5:05

Yes. I I thought you didn't think it through, but there's also something that I've known about you for a while, and that is that you are a planner, right? You you always thought things through methodically. You always came up with your own itinerary on how things were gonna go, how things were gonna uh progress for you, where you were gonna be, an exact time. And so, although for me, I was in a chaotic state, I was in a an unstable thought and emotion about it. I knew that you were methodical and planned. So though I didn't think you might have thought of everything, there's all there was always a part of me that knew that you probably did. I just didn't think of everything.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Gotcha. Yeah, no, I could really understand that. It's like from your perspective, has she thought about all the the potential issues that I've thought about? Oh, yeah, I've got 155 issues.

SPEAKER_03 6:02

And travel is not one. Uh, but yeah, I I as a parent, you unfortunately, you think about protection. You think about what could go wrong instead of what could go right. It's just what we're we're hardwired to think. What about this? What about that? What about, you know, finances? What about she goes somewhere and somebody wants to follow her home? What about she meets somebody, you know, or she's isolated in a place and she can't get back? What if something happened to her and then I have to try to get to her? I don't even know exact address where she's at. I only know the city. And then but then if I had to fly there, where would I be going? What hospital would I be going to? And I'm like, I'm gonna find out, you know. You know, I've I've done this with Costa Rica, if you remember, when you were at the med school and you said, hey, something's going on with the host person house and and the program. I'm like, oh no, we're flying out tomorrow there within the air. I don't even know where I'm going. I don't even know where I'm where I'm going and who I'm meeting, but I'm gonna walk around this little place until I figure it all out. So I knew from before that things can go wrong. And I want to be able to to jump in and I want to be able to assist and support and you know be something to lean on and protect you from whatever it is that may be happening. You can't always do that when someone's around the world. And and though, you know, you may you you you did comfort me in letting me know your location, I still don't know the street. I still don't know the apartment, I still don't know the department building. What's the suite number? I don't know the hospital that's near to there. Uh who else could be there with you to provide you with a sense of comfort and and and camaraderie and community. So, you know, all of that.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Yeah. All of that runs. I mean, you you sound like such a parent. And I feel like parents will parents will a hundred percent understand that perspective and really feel that because that's probably the first and foremost thing that they want to do is make sure that they protect their children and that their children are okay. I know that there was a a night that we were playing card games as we usually do. And you mentioned during that game that parents can have trouble believing things that they've never seen. Absolutely. Can you talk about that?

SPEAKER_03 8:09

As a parent, when you don't know how something can how something can unfold, you tend to shun it. You tend to resist it. I know that when I grew up, my mother could not conceptualize that I could be as successful as I was as a parent, as a person, as an employee. She she couldn't conceptualize it because she had never seen it. She had never witnessed it. She had never experienced it. So as a parent, when you can't see something, you have never seen it, you have never witnessed it, you have never experienced it. You don't know no one who has experienced it. You tend to dismiss this thought as something that's not well thought, not well planned, not very uh adequate, not very uh successful, not meaningful, maybe more reactive, not well thought out, and it's not true. It's just something that they have not experienced, and it's something that I did not experience. So our first reaction is this is a mistake. And it's not a mistake because we haven't seen it before. It's just something new, and it's something probably better than we could ever comprehend because it is something new, and nothing great happens if nothing new happens in the person's life. You know, one thing that um I remember it was about 12 years ago, Steve Harvey said, uh, if you want to be successful, you gotta jump. You gotta jump, right? You have to take risks, you have to do something different. You have to be willing to go for what you want out of this life, right? If you want to soar, you get on your, you you you you know, when you parachute, you gotta run on the cliff for a minute and then you have to jump. And the parachute will eventually open. It won't open at first, so there's a scary moment right there when you're thinking, this might not work out too well. This is this is not going well. But eventually it will open and you will soar. And I wanted you to soar, and I wanted to soar when I was young. And uh I just couldn't stand on a cliff and never soar. Just wish that I could be better and never be better.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

So I'm wondering like, what does it take for a parent to start believing in something outside of what they know, outside of their own experience? Well, it takes faith, right?

SPEAKER_03 10:34

You know, over the course of time, you've done a lot of things to alleviate some of my fear. But you know, every once in a while, if I can't find you and I can't contact you, I start, you know, going back and forth. But where are you at? Did you hear from or did you hear me? You know, but it takes faith. Like most of us have to understand that uh fear is not of God. Like this is gonna test your faith. New things will test your faith. And a lot of times we ask for more love, so God's gonna give you opportunity to be loving. You ask for more faith, so God's gonna give you opportunity to be more faithful. He's gonna put you in situations, circumstances for you to manifest it. And so in those instances, we have to understand that what we've put in our children, right? All the great sacrifices, all the great work, everything that we have tried and we have sacrificed and we have wished for our children, what we've trained them up to be, is what they'll be. You know, the Bible says train up a child in the way it should go. When it's old, it won't depart from it. So I had to believe that what I did and what I taught you and what I said and what you've learned and what you've gathered from our family and community, you will be able to implement with or without me. Being around, being present, being easily accessible, you will be fine. So you have to believe in your children and you have to support their dreams. I don't have to like everything, but I do have to support it because it's your life. It's not my life. It's not my life. I gave I gave you life, but I don't mean I get to dictate it. It just means that again, I get to have some suggestive input. Suggestive input. Yes. But I don't get to control it. And, you know, I want to say this too. A lot of people, a lot of parents might believe that their children going abroad is about them. Oh, they don't want to be around me. They don't want to be near me. What happened? What happened to the family? Why wouldn't they want to be in the same state as I'm in? It's not even about you. It's about the child. It's about our children, you know, being the best that they can be. Like we know we want them to be better than we can even dream, think, imagine. But we have to give them the room. We have to give them the trust. We have to give them the support. And we got to give them the space, the space to do that. It's not easy, but it's required, right? As a mother, uh there's a saying that, you know, we teach our children, one of the things we have to teach our children is not to need us. And then the other thing we have to do is we have to accept the fact that we made such a great success of it. And we have to do that. But um, unless we're going to stamper their dreams, unless we're going to keep them from soaring, we will have to get over our fears, not put it on our children, and not to utilize it as a way to do guilt and shame and to be pessimistic and to keep hold them back from something just because we don't know what it is. Educate ourselves.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

So I I mean, it sounds like it takes some thoughtful like awareness and work on the part of the parent to be able to like reframe and rethink about this potential situation as something that they've actually helped the their their child to pursue and help their child to feel comfortable even imagining doing. Right. Not something that's a reaction about them. Right. I'm wondering, like, right. I'm wondering, was there a moment where you started to feel like maybe this is actually okay? And like if if something had shifted, was it something that I said? Was it something you saw? Was it just time seeing me do it? Well, you know, it's it's all of the above.

SPEAKER_03 14:16

It's all of the above, because you know, you you you shared the location. I think early on you kept constantly just making sure that you kept in contact with me, which helped alleviate a lot of my fears, right? So one of the things I know when you first went off, it's like praying several times a day, oh Lord, please keep my child, please get my child from her harm they see none. You go through that. And then after a while, you you you realize, okay, she's okay, she's okay, she's landing there, she's okay, she landed there, she's okay. Then you're like, okay, she's doing well. She seems to know what she's doing. Definitely better than I do. And then uh, and it again, it takes time at the same, you know, at the same pace. And then God gives you confidence, like it's it's gonna be fine, you know. It she was first my child before she was yours. I can watch her from the backyard to the other side of the world. So, okay. So after a while, the you know, less frequent. And I realized that you know what you're doing. You know, what I put in, you know, what grandma put in, what other people put in is what you're performing. So it's it's it's still in there. Yeah, it's still in there. And you're you're you're making it, you're doing it and you're doing it well. And so I again, you know, your biggest thing as a parent is don't become somebody that's, you know, pessimistic, somebody that's always talking about where is this okay and that okay? You know, give people the opportunity to grow, people the opportunity to move and make mistakes too. Everything's not gonna work out excellently, and that's not a reason for me to say, oh, you see what I'm saying? No, no, no. Things are gonna happen in the United States, things are gonna happen if you're around the corner from me. Things are gonna continue to happen. I think you taught me that real young. You was like, mom, if something could happen to me up the road, if you know, then you you don't like to hear that. As a parent, because I feel like I can run up the road and kind of save some stuff, but you have to understand that things can happen anywhere. So when mistakes happen, don't feel like, oh, this is a sign, this is this is a symptom of what should it happen. No, it's not a gloom and doom. Things are gonna happen. It just simply means that she's learning the process, she's learning the procedure, she's learning the quirks, the nuances of what it is to travel and to be digitally nomadic. Got it. Yeah, I had to look up the word pneumatic, right? Digitally nomadic. And that again, it's it's par for the course of life itself. It's not something different or something that, you know, maybe gloom and doom is just part of the course of life. And she's doing it and she's living it, and she's doing what's necessary in order to learn from all mistakes, abroad and and and at home.

SPEAKER_01 16:51

For sure. And because I've I've had so many clients and talked to so many physicians who've had a similar situation, either with parents or maybe even partners who have felt the same way that you felt. I'm wondering what would you say to them? Is there anything you want them to know about how to support a child who's making a big change like this, even if they're scared? Like, is there anything you wish someone had told you or said to you when I first let you know?

SPEAKER_03 17:23

Yeah, I wish somebody would have would have just said, you know, it's possible. You know, that she's not the only person out there doing this. It's possible. Maybe gave me different podcasts, gave me different information that I could have seen and maybe have talked to one or two other people who have children have gone through it or who uh went through it, you know, themselves, that would have eased my fears a little bit quickly, more quickly than it did. Because at the time I didn't have that. And then try to Google as much as I could to try to catch up. And and but it had I been able to speak to someone and say, hey, I'm living abroad, I'm African American, I'm doing well, I'm enjoying where I'm at, I'm gonna be here for six months, and then maybe somewhere else for another three months, and be somewhere else for another six months, and I've been doing it for a while, and these are, you know, the healthcare systems I'm utilizing. This is a community that I am utilizing while I'm there, so I'm I'm not depressed or I'm not feeling isolated. If I would have had somebody giving me that information, even in my state of wanting not to believe that this is happening, and it would have eased it because I'm like, okay, it can be done. It is being done. And from when I Googled like last, the last time I Googled it, millions of people are doing it. It's become something that a lot of Americans are are doing since 2019. So, hey, this is not, you're not doing anything that's so unusual, something that's that might, you know, nobody else is doing, and you won't have anyone else, you know, to support you while you're out there. There's you you had your own support group, support systems in play with different groups online. You would meet different groups when you go to different countries. I mean, had I known that, I I mean, I would have still had my my scary moments, but I know it's being done. I know it can be done, and it's being, and and people are being successful and living the happier life. You're living a life I wish I could have lived. That's at the end of the day, you know. Very few people are gonna wish you do better than them. And your parents are those people who just wish you do how much better than than they do. And uh what that what parents like me have to understand is that in order for you to do that, you need their support, not their critique, you know, not their uh fears and anxieties. Though though it's normal to have that, keep it in proportion. Understand that it's our stuff, not not and we can't cast our fears upon our children. But I think if if I would have had that information, it would have moved the needle of my fear toward calmness a little bit more quickly. Because I could always then just just click in and just realize that hey, there's a whole bunch of people doing it and and they're doing it successfully. And right now, we're one of those people that are doing it successfully. So congrats to you.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

Thank you, Mom. You're welcome. And thanks for your support. I mean, I think I I never really thought about that, but I mean, it's true, like having that evidence. Like it would have just given you more evidence that this is possible, other people are doing it, they're doing it in their own way. And, you know, it's not something that's so new. Maybe it's new in the context, maybe there's not as many physicians doing it, but it's something that millions of people are doing every year, all the time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:50

And it's and then it's it's increasing. So I mean, yes, you know, it's it's it's it's definitely possible and and not only possible, it's it's doable in so many different ways. And so as a parent, we have to if I think with that evidence, if we were given that and and shown that, it would move the needle from our our greatest fears to our understanding of the the benefits of it and how someone can live the life that they want to live, um, doing it, you know, being successful and traveling the world. And we get we get the benefits of it too, you know. I get to jump in and travel with you. Yes. There's a plus to this, everybody. There's a plus this weekend, like next month in Italy. Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely. And you know these things, you know how to go in and out of these countries. You know so much of what I only wish I would have known or or I learn as I go to these different countries with you. And you know, and I get to make memories. I mean, I get to make experiences with you. And I love it.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

Absolutely. I love it too. Absolutely same. Well, you also have. The experience of marriage in the long-term partnership. And so, you know, I'm wondering from more of that spouse partner perspective or lens, do you think a spouse or partner experiences this differently than how a parent does? And how would you, you know, approach that conversation if you were the partner who was uncertain about making a shift?

SPEAKER_03 22:28

Well, I I think with a partner is it's definitely a more profound feeling because it's more as a team, we're trying to make decisions. And I'm thinking about not only my future, right? What am I gonna do as a career? Where am I gonna go? What about my friends? What about my healthcare? What about my system? What about my family? What about their dreams? What about my obligations to them, not just my obligation to you? Is that is this someplace I'm gonna want to be? Am I gonna keep wanting to move here, here, here, and here? Because stability sometimes is the bedrock for people in relationships, doing the same thing the same way and having a routine, you know? So it's unnerving at times for someone who's married or a partner with somebody who's talking about let's let's travel the world, let's be digitally nomadic. It's like, mmm, I don't want to sleep in somebody's bed every six months. I don't I want to have a place to call my own. I want to have a, you know, a place that I know is mine. I like the regularity, the stability of it. So it's it's it's uneasy. It would be so uneasy for them in what their goals are, right? And what their wants are.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

So a lot of times though, for at least for families who are moving abroad, they're not trying to be digitally nomadic. They just want to move to a different country, or either maybe they want to experience being abroad six months and then go back home six months. So it's it's but I still find that for a lot of folks, even that change, because it's still a change in their career, even if they're not moving and they just have the location flexibility. But saying like they're gonna work remotely and have that flexibility and change their job, even just that is a lot. It's it's different for a partner. So I'm wondering like, what do you think it takes? What is that conversation like for like a partner to come around to uh, you know, someone else or a physician wanting to make a move?

SPEAKER_03 24:32

I mean, I would say something like uh pilot it. Say, hey, let's try this for three months. Let's try this for six months. And if you find that you don't like, you know, living abroad, then we can always come back. We can always do that. We can always come back home and and and return back to the way things were. But don't be scared to at least give it a try. You know, you never know until you try it if you like it. One of the worst things that I I hate as a as a therapist in speaking to a client is, you know, ask them something like, Do you like bananas? No, I don't like bananas. Why? Did you ever taste a banana? No, I just don't like the way it looks. Like, do you want to taste it first? Because you might actually like the banana. I understand it doesn't look a but do you want to at least have an experience? Because your experience is more profound than just the appearance of something. You know, experience it and then find out for yourself if it's something that you like. Not from the surface if it's something, right? Because most things are deeper than the surface of what they appear. And so I would say the same thing to that spouse. Try it. I mean, the beautiful thing is you can always return home. You can always come back to how it used to be, but you at least deserve it. And you and your significant other deserves the opportunity to try something different and new. And the children, the culture that they will be exposed to, the languages, the sights, the scenery, the environments, oh, what a profound effect. What a profound benefit it will have on them. You know, we don't want to cheapen anything in our children's upbringing and and and their learning. And they will, they, they will retain so much, right? Um, from that experience in and of itself. And, you know, if you don't like it, come back. But if you do like it, go for another. We can always re-up for another six months or another three months, see how it goes and then make your final decision. But don't be scared.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

That was one of the things that that I used to tell myself, like before I left. I was like, well, worst case scenario, you just come right back here to DC and do the same thing you would do.

SPEAKER_03 26:48

Wait, worst worst case scenario. You have nothing to lose. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain, but you have to see it that way. Sometimes we're so we're so conditioned to believe that things have to be a certain way. It has to go a certain procedure, it has to be in a certain sequence for it to be right. And we're so wrong with that. You know, we've been conditioned for that. And I call it the traditionalists, right? We're traditionalists. We're supposed to have a long-standing job, which we're supposed to retire from after 30 years. We're supposed to have a car, uh, three 2.3 kids in a house. This is the way it's supposed to go. We're supposed to go to work every day. We're supposed to go ahead and endure whatever work has to offer us there, and then come home and and then try to avoid talking about work and enjoy our best lives with our kids and and and not get upset about what's going on and be okay and then get up in the morning and do another 24 hours of this. And I like the fact that you decided, hmm, I see this. I see that you're doing this, mom. I see you work two, three jobs, I see that, you know, you endure all of that and you love what you do, but you know, you're stressed out a lot of this time. And so I want something better. And this is how I think it can be better. And who knows, you know, you you turned around and you did it better. And I and I applaud you for it. I didn't I could not even fathom that it could be done. But uh, that's the beautiful part about it. You don't know until you take the opportunity to leap and try something totally different that you've never tried before. And you'll see that you probably are gonna get a result that you never thought you quite could could could have as a as an outcome.

SPEAKER_02 28:28

So try it out. You have nothing to lose. Nothing to lose. Everything to lose.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

Is there anything about this experience watching me build this life that has surprised you the most?

SPEAKER_03 28:43

Um listen, your ability to travel as much as you travel just takes me out of here. You'll be from one place to another place, another place, another place. I'm just and your ability to plan it. Boy, you're a perfectionist though. So you're working on a great itinerary is always there. But yeah, that's that's taking me back, is that you have the ability to plan it and to travel and to make it happen and to acclimate yourself in these different environments, these different cultures, these different countries, and and to truly immerse yourself in such a way that you know you and you enjoy and become one at the same time with where you're at. That's that's impressive. That's just that's just so impressive. Okay. It's impressive. I couldn't I couldn't have done it, you know me. I'm gonna bring me to it and want y'all to conform me. But nope, nope, nope, nope. You know, you you you took the time to truly, you know, appreciate every culture that you find yourself going to and enjoying what it has to offer you, what it has to teach you, what you have to learn from it, and what you can contribute back. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 29:52

That's most like, like you mentioned earlier, it's part of my upbringing, you know, it's part of being able to step into different communities and different rooms and remember and understand who I am, but also had the curiosity to understand someone else. And, you know, it's all of those things that I was, you know, raised to believe about myself and about others and about the world, how we're connected, about God. Like it all comes together and then it culminates when you go out in the world and meet other people and do new things. So obviously we wouldn't be able to figure out about you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:31

As a parent, that's what we all have to know. Like what we've what we've put into our children, or even as a spouse, you know, what we've built with our significant other, it's going to come to fruition. That that helps the person that we're seeing before us is a culmination of all the great stuff that we've we've done with them and we've built with them. And what we don't want someone to do is to shrink because of our fear, because of our insecurities, because of our stuff. We want them to soar. And so we have to pour into them. And sometimes we have to push past what we thought or think or what we don't know and want to know. And we have to believe that the person who's telling us these great things of what they want to do has thought it out, has been methodical in how they've decided to pursue and procedurally, you know, implement their day, the this thing called living abroad, and support them and celebrate them in that. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 31:30

Absolutely. My mom, thank you so much. It didn't feel like as weird as I thought it was gonna feel. Many more conversations to be had this weekend, but many more, many more as you're turning Twitter. Who would have known? I know, but I mean, I appreciate you so much because I think it's gonna be really helpful to just hear like the transparency and the honesty of like where parents are, you know, how they're feeling, and even for the from the other side, from the physician to have a better understanding of where their parent is coming from and like how they can have their own family meeting and you know, meet in the middle. Yep. Um, show the evidence and have the conversation and and come to that, you know, mutual understanding. Even if in that moment you don't agree, there is a time period where things may change, right? Right. And where you really see what they're going for and it can make all of our lives, your whole family unit more impactful, like have a greater experience, more uplifted. So thank you so much, Mom. You're very, very welcome.

SPEAKER_03 32:38

So I I mean, again, those two things are the best. I think if we would have informed our significant other and our parent, we give them the information, we explain it to them, give them evidence of other people living abroad, how that could benefit them, the family, the children, etc. And then on on top of that, say, hey, at the very least, we could polish. And between that, that should alleviate a lot of the a lot of the fears and apprehensions that a lot of parents and families and significant others have. And it's and it's not about them. It's not about leaving them. Because sometimes parents make it about us. Oh, they don't want to be a real. No, it's not about you, boo. It's not about you. It's about them. And you've been sacrificing all your life for them. Why not one why not one more? Why not one more?

SPEAKER_02 33:30

Take a leap. Yes, take the lead.

SPEAKER_01 33:32

Thank you, Mom.

SPEAKER_02 33:33

You're welcome.

SPEAKER_01 33:34

Talk to you later, not you. I want to thank my mother for being honest, both then and now. For everyone listening, if what came up today wasn't just about your family, but about your own internal resistance, episode nine is where we go deeper on that. It's called Why You Haven't Left Yet. And it might be the most important episode in this series for where you are right now. If you are carrying the weight of someone else's fear alongside your own and you want to figure out how to move forward anyway, a one-to-one freedom call is where we untangle that and place you on the path to time and location freedom. The link is in the show notes. Thanks for listening to Doctors Abroad. If this episode was helpful, share it with a colleague who's been thinking about building more freedom and flexibility in medicine. And if you're ready to make hospital income optional, book a one to one freedom consultation at thenomadmd.com. I'll see you in the next episode.