Ep 038 Practicing Balance with Dawn Baker, MD

Jun 8, 2018

Dr. Dawn Baker is an anesthesiologist, blogger, author, mother and cancer survivor. In this episode, we discuss how she started her blog Practice Balance as a way to relieve stress during a difficult time in her life and how it has grown into so much more over the past seven years. She gives us great tips for stress management, blogging and how to practice balance in all areas of your life as a busy physician and mother.

 

In this episode, you will learn:

• How starting out as an engineer eventually led Dawn to the field of medicine.
• How Dawn’s love of rock climbing made her want a location-independent career.
• Dawn started experiencing medical problems in her residency training that caused her to take a leave from her residency to attend to her health.
• She got the idea to start her blog during her leave as a way to manage stress.
• She also tried silent meditation retreats, journaling, therapists, diets and exercise programs as stress management tools as well.
• How Dawn eventually found out she had a pituitary tumor that had to be surgically removed and how that affected the rest of her medical training.
• How Dawn realized journaling on her blog was the right stress management technique for herself and why she wanted to share that with other busy professionals.
• What financial independence means to Dawn.
• Dawn’s philosophy on simplicity and how that promotes balance in her life.
• How Dawn suffered infertility but is now a mom to a beautiful, 2 ½ year old little girl.
• Her advice on journaling for people that aren’t writers or don’t usually enjoy writing.
• Dawn’s tips for those just starting out with blogging including how to start and the best way to write to keep your reader’s interested.
• How Dawn got involved with the Mothers in Medicine Blog and how she has contributed to the new, “Mother’s in Medicine,” book as well.

 

Dr. Dawn Baker is a board certified anesthesiologist and mother to a 2 ½ year old daughter. She was raised in Arizona and went on to earn her Master’s in Engineering from the University of Arizona, Tucson. She then earned her MD and completed her residency training at University of Utah where she is still currently employed as an attending physician in anesthesiology.

 

Links we discussed in the show:

To follow along with Dawn and her journey to balance, you can check out her personal blog: http://www.practicebalance.com.

 

Also, follow Dawn on Mothers in Medicine. This is a group blog put together by physician-mothers, writing about the unique challenges and joys of tending to two distinct patient populations, both of who can be quite demanding. We are on call every, single day.

 

Check out their latest venture, the Mothers in Medicine Book. It is sold at all major booksellers.

 

You can find out more about the Physician Wellness and Financial Literacy Conference on the The White Coat Investor Website and follow their White Coat Investor Blog too.

 

You can also follow the Physician on Fire Blog that Dawn and I follow as well. 

 

If you want to start your own blog, check out the book Dawn mentions: The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging.

 

 

Quotes from Dawn:

• “I just wanted to share what I had learned and the kind of principles about self-reflection and learning about what techniques work for you.”
• “Having simplicity and having less choices is something I go back to many times.”
• “Once I wrote about it on paper, it helped me to release it.”
• “You have to constantly figure out what’s important to you.”

 

Special thanks to this week’s sponsor: Larry Keller from Physician Financial Services!

 

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