Stories of What’s Possible

“Tell me a story.”

Stories are one of the first things children ask for.

Stories help us make sense of a confusing world. They help us feel less alone. They help us imagine what might be possible.

We tell stories about our own lives too, whether we realize it or not.

Stories about who we are. What happened to us. What we are good at. What we should have done differently.

Stories about what is possible. What is too late. What we deserve.

Coaching reminds us that we are always telling stories. It is how we make meaning.

The story itself may not be wrong.

Hard things happen. Disappointment, loss, uncertainty, and struggle are real.

But there are often many equally true stories we can tell about the same experience.

The story of a job that no longer fits can be a story of failure.

It can also be a story of listening more closely to yourself.

The story of uncertainty can be a story of being behind.

It can also be a story of becoming willing to move forward without having all the answers first.

The story of a hard season can be a story of what went wrong. It can also be a story of what you learned, what you chose, and who you became.

Stories help us see what is possible

For the past two years, I have been a regular at Redwood Nights, a storytelling event held outside in a redwood grove just down the road from Nicasio Creek Farm.

In winter, stories are told by the fire in candlelight.

It is a powerful experience.

I have set the intention to tell a story from the stage myself in 2027 or 2028. Over the last few months, I have been working with someone to help me understand and tell my founder’s story: who I am, how I got here, how Pause & Presence came to be, and why I could not not create it.

More than arriving at a single ultimate story, I am interested in the process of becoming who we are through writing and telling our stories.

Our lives are made up of so many stories.

Big ones. Little ones. The ones we tell. The ones we do not.

How we choose to tell them influences our experience of our own lives, the impact we have on others, and the world.

While thinking about this, I realized that the Healing Medicine Podcast is full of stories of what is possible.

I have recorded 28 conversations with clients who have generously shared their experiences of coaching, retreats, career change, relationships, uncertainty, and learning to live and practice medicine differently.

These are not polished before-and-after stories.

They are real stories.

Stories of physicians who have made meaningful changes without needing to throw away their ambition, their intelligence, or the parts of medicine they still love.

Stories of learning to trust themselves.

Stories of finding more space, joy, courage, connection, and possibility.

Stories of becoming less successful on the surface and struggling underneath—and more fully alive in their actual lives.

Explore Healing Medicine Podcast client stories

A few places you might begin

You might begin with a story about changing careers or finding a more sustainable way to practice medicine.

You might begin with a story about pacing yourself through change.

You might begin with a story about letting go of fixing, managing, and controlling.

You might begin with a story about finding fulfillment outside the mold.

You might begin with a story about aging, uncertainty, joy, or becoming more of yourself.

There is no one right story.

There is no one right way to change.

But when we see what is possible for someone else, we often become more able to imagine possibilities for ourselves.

That is why I am sharing the raw footage: the real conversations and stories themselves.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I have enjoyed being part of them and creating these episodes to share with you.

They really are pretty awesome.

Listen to physician coaching stories on the Healing Medicine Podcast