Jennifer Lin

I am a family physician who is involved in a home based marketing business selling unbelievable financial products.  I was already making a six figure income, however I needed a way to maintain my income while cutting down my work hours.  While I love medicine, my work schedule was causing my health and family life to deteriorate.  I have never been a pill pushing type of physician, favoring natural healing and alternative treatments such as acupuncture in my practice.  I told my patients that the key to longevity was simple: 
 
1. Eat well.
2. Exercise daily.
3. Seek what brings you personal fulfillment. 
 
I however was my own worst patient.  I ate whatever came upon my desk in the few minutes I had between dictating my charts—it usually involved something that started with a “C”, cookies…chocolate…chips…CRAP. I rationalized that only selfish mothers would exercise instead of spending quality time with their children for the one or two hours before they went to bed.  I stopped pursuing my interests outside work. Actually, I had no interests or friends outside of work as “who had the time?”  
 
This type of lifestyle went on for a year after my second child was born. I had no idea how bad off I was until I reached rock bottom. I still remember the one fateful evening last fall when I sat slumped in my chair after saying goodbye to my last patient, too exhausted to start tackling the mounds of paperwork and charts that lay before me. I had just taken another 4 ibuprofen to lessen the daily headache and neck pain I was having, and wondering if I could sneak into the office's drug closet for some sleeping pills and muscle relaxants without my colleagues noticing. I wondered which of the 6 antidepressant samples we carried in the office was acceptable when one was still nursing. It was at that moment when I thought "Dear God, what have I become? THIS IS NOT ME!"  It finally dawned on me how ridiculous it would be to take pills for the rest of my life just to treat the symptoms I was having due to the work stress that I MYSELF WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR CREATING.  
 
It was at that moment when I decided I would begin eating well, exercising, and search for what would bring me personal happiness.  I started to explore my definition of happiness. It did not involve an expensive car or a million dollar house. I wanted more time with my husband and 2 young children. I wanted to be the parent that cancelled work in order to bring their sick kids to the doctor’s office (something I had never allowed myself to do before). I wanted to take a vacation from work without crunching the numbers and working more before and after the vacation in order to still cover my enormous overhead. I wanted to daydream about pulling my children out of school for a year to sail around the world…and to realize that I could afford to do this.   Finally, I knew that the reason why I had stayed at my job so long was because it brought me unbelievable satisfaction knowing I had improved their quality of life. I needed to find another line of work that would allow me to mentor others and to improve their lives as well. I researched the internet and found the perfect home based business that was not a pyramid-sounding scheme, that marketed something unique and truly life-altering rather than the vitamins/lotions/potions that I as a physician was skeptical of, and one that would still allow me to work 3 days a week in my medical practice while increasing my previous income. 
 
I am happy to report now that the headaches and muscle spasms are a thing of the past. The expensive treadmill is in use, and most of the foods I eat do not start with the letter “C”. Life is slower, life is balanced, life is good. 
 
Jennifer Lin M.D.