Updates & New Chapters
When I left my clinical job last April of 2022, I was pretty sure that was it for me and clinical nutrition. I was burnt out, and felt really beat down from working in an incredibly toxic environment. If I’m being honest, it took me a really long time to recover from that and gain my confidence back.
Working this past year in private practice has given me more time to breathe, and really think about what I want and don’t want from my career (and at times, about whether I even want to be a dietitian anymore). I’ve also really thought about what I like and don’t like doing as a dietitian and as someone running a business. For example, social media. Man, do I have a love/hate relationship with social media. If you follow me, you may have noticed a lot less reels and posts lately. It’s not because I’m giving up on my practice or not seeing clients anymore, it’s because I just don’t like doing it. That stuff is time-consuming, sometimes it feels performative and inauthentic, and honestly the ROI is not great.
Anyways, one big thing I do want from my career is to continue learning, and that’s been really hard for me to do working mostly alone. As independent and introverted as I am, aside from my weekly student sessions at Juilliard, I’ve missed being around people and the learning that happens when around other dietitians and healthcare professionals. The happiest I’ve been in my career was probably the first couple of years, when I sat in an office with other RDs and soaked up everything they knew (and made some great friends).
So, fast forward to some lucky timing and an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up, I am once again a clinical dietitian, this time at an incredible orthopedic specialty hospital here in New York. I’ve only been there a couple of weeks, but it’s a dream, and I’m already learning (and re-learning, lol) a lot. My current schedule is one that I think will work well - I work part-time three days per week at the hospital, and see clients on the other two days. Once Juilliard starts up again in the fall I’ll fit that in there as well. Needless to say, things are a bit/a lot busier than they were before when I was just seeing clients, but I think I need that. I nearly forgot that I can and do thrive on being busy and productive.
So there’s my update. Adjusting to my new schedule has been easier than I thought, and I think it’s because I’m so happy to be doing what I love in a way that really suits me. Oh, and! To be clear, I am still seeing clients, and taking on new clients (for now!).
Thanks for reading!