Latest / The iAlign Podcast with Flint Mitchell / #22 - Leaving Engineering for a Post-Baccalaureate Program Aimed at Medicine With Former D1 Soccer Player Taylor Barg

Transcript

#22 - Leaving Engineering for a Post-Baccalaureate Program Aimed at Medicine With Former D1 Soccer Player Taylor Barg · The iAlign Podcast with Flint Mitchell

0:01
SPEAKER_02: There was one patient that came in one time.
0:04
SPEAKER_02: We kind of talked a little bit, and then she came in again.
0:07
SPEAKER_02: We talked a little more.
0:08
SPEAKER_02: And then the third time she came in, it was like, hey Taylor, like, how are you doing?
0:12
SPEAKER_02: How's you gonna like?
0:13
SPEAKER_02: Did you watch Gray's Anatomy this week?
0:15
SPEAKER_02: And so it's just like it was just a really cool experience that you just kind of become, they are your patients, but you you form a relationship, you form a bond with these people that um is different than any other bond that you have with, you know, other people.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: What's up, y'all?
0:45
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Seeking Authenticity.
0:47
SPEAKER_00: My name is Flint Mitchell, and I get absolutely psyched by having conversations with authentic people that I admire about the things they value.
0:56
SPEAKER_00: Their stories and perspectives don't just make me smile, laugh, and think.
1:00
SPEAKER_00: They inspire me to wake up earlier, listen better, focus, and work harder, and help make me a better version of myself.
1:07
SPEAKER_00: And it's my hope that sharing these conversations through this podcast might do the same thing for you.
1:14
SPEAKER_00: In this episode, I talk with Taylor Barg, a former Division I soccer player for SMU who went into engineering after school, but who has recently shifted her sights towards medicine by entering a post-baccalaureate program.
1:26
SPEAKER_00: I met Taylor when I played as a practice player my sophomore year on the women's soccer team, and as I mentioned in the episode, even as a younger player from an outside perspective, she was a clear leader who brought both the energy and level of the play up during games while retaining a composed mindset.
1:41
SPEAKER_00: That, her ability to balance an engineering degree with soccer, and her recent transition towards medicine all had me pretty excited to talk to her on the podcast.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: Here, we cover all of those topics, as well as the ways her postbox has been such a valuable experience, the connections built from vulnerable environments, and the hope that can result from them, and on how time is going to pass regardless of what you do.
2:03
SPEAKER_00: So you better choose something you're passionate about.
2:06
SPEAKER_00: I would stick around till the end of this one because Taylor has a great and motivating message.
2:10
SPEAKER_00: Enjoy.
2:14
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for doing this with me, Taylor.
2:16
SPEAKER_00: I appreciate it.
2:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, of course.
2:19
SPEAKER_00: No, we met when I was a practice player on the SMU women's soccer team.
2:25
SPEAKER_00: And the thing that stuck out about you and a couple of the other girls on the team where you had a maturity that kind of elected you as leaders of the team, at least from an outside perspective.
2:38
SPEAKER_00: I thought that was pretty apparent.
2:41
SPEAKER_00: And then combined with the fact that you were studying mechanical engineering at the time, pretty tough feat to combine varsity sports in college and engineering, I would say.
2:52
SPEAKER_00: And then recently when I saw that you were kind of transitioning into uh medicine or the the field of medicine or aiming at it, which I think are all pretty uh impressive feats.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm pretty excited to talk to you.
3:05
SPEAKER_00: And the thing I kind of want to get your take on it first was if you could tell me a bit about the experience of playing college soccer, like what it meant to you, you know, why you enjoyed it.
3:18
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
3:19
SPEAKER_02: Um, thank you so much for having me.
3:21
SPEAKER_02: I'm really excited to speak with you about all this.
3:23
SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, it was a very interesting experience.
3:27
SPEAKER_02: I had two older sisters that played college soccer as well.
3:30
SPEAKER_02: So I think it kind of just fed into what uh the third child was gonna do.
3:36
SPEAKER_02: Um, I mean, no, I loved it.
3:38
SPEAKER_02: It was awesome.
3:38
SPEAKER_02: So I had a bit of an idea of how um hectic the scheduling is and how hard it is to balance uh kind of a social life, school, and um playing sport.
3:51
SPEAKER_02: But it was fun.
3:52
SPEAKER_02: I mean, when you first start college, it's a very intimidating experience, but you automatically have 23 people that are going through the same thing that you are, and I think that kind of helps you um get through it because you have people that are one, two, three years older than you that have been through the experience, so they're kind of walking you through it, and um, it was just something that I never took for granted because I knew it was such a lucky opportunity to be able to play a college sport, and as hard as it was a lot of times, uh, you know, missing um classes or missing sorority events or just hanging out with friends, it was definitely worth it.
4:35
SPEAKER_02: And, you know, they were my best friends on the team.
4:39
SPEAKER_02: And um, the running probably wasn't my most favorite part of it, but um when we would score a goal or just have fun at practice, it it was all worth it.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
4:53
SPEAKER_00: I like that perspective that kind of right off the bat, you saw it as an opportunity.
4:57
SPEAKER_00: You're kind of like entering a um, you're almost forced into a group of friends.
5:03
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, seriously.
5:05
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's pretty beneficial in college, right?
5:07
SPEAKER_00: People are kind of coming out of nowhere, you don't really know anyone.
5:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, did you end up finding ways of balancing that intense combo of school and soccer?
5:18
SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, you'd think I'd have it figured out by senior year, but senior year, I had Taylor Jackson was also a mechanical engineer with me, and we had two classes that we had to take to fulfill our degree, and we're seniors, so we have to take it the you know, senior spring or senior fall semester.
5:37
SPEAKER_02: Um, and they occurred right during practice.
5:41
SPEAKER_02: And so that was that's tough because you know, it's hard to say that one's more important than the other, but you know, you do need to finish your degree, but you do need to support your teammates at practice.
5:53
SPEAKER_02: Um, so we would wake up, go to practice, do the fitness running, and then we would go straight to class, finish class, and then right after class, we would come back and do weightlifting and the rest of the running with our uh fitness coaches, whereas the rest of the team just did all of that in the four hours that we had to practice or whatever.
6:16
SPEAKER_02: So it was a continuous process of learning throughout the four years, and it was not something we ever maybe were able to do perfectly, but we did the best that we can to try to work work with everything.
6:32
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
6:33
SPEAKER_00: What uh was there a time then?
6:36
SPEAKER_00: Maybe was it that class when you started having to really weigh the soccer versus career or school or engineering?
6:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
6:47
SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, now that I am actually going through applications now and looking back at my transcripts, something that a lot of people probably never look at ever again in their life.
6:57
SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, I do have withdrawals on my transcripts, and that was due to soccer.
7:04
SPEAKER_02: And I think it's really tough looking back now, wondering, you know, was it worth that and whatever?
7:10
SPEAKER_02: And that's just a quick thought because obviously it was worth it.
7:13
SPEAKER_02: And I would never change it for anything because it was one of the best times, also one of the most stressful times.
7:22
SPEAKER_02: Um, but there were two semesters where I'm I'm trying to take, you know, electrical engineering and thermodynamics classes that I've never taken before or seen before.
7:32
SPEAKER_02: And we're traveling Wednesday through Sunday every other week for soccer.
7:37
SPEAKER_02: So I'm very good at teaching myself out of a textbook.
7:40
SPEAKER_02: That's normally how I teach myself, but these textbooks just I did not understand them at all.
7:46
SPEAKER_02: Um, so it was really it was really hard missing class and having to take tests on the road.
7:52
SPEAKER_01: You were there, you I remember the circuit scores.
7:54
SPEAKER_01: We took that together.
7:55
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we were in that together.
7:56
SPEAKER_02: So I ended up dropping that.
7:59
SPEAKER_02: And I retook it the next semester and did well.
8:02
SPEAKER_02: So it's just one of those where it's kind of frustrating to have that, you know, W and then have the A the second semester.
8:08
SPEAKER_02: But hopefully that that shows, you know, just kind of the complications of of the sacrifice of soccer, but it it is what it is, and it was it was like I said, it took four years, and I don't even know if I ever mastered figuring it out, but it did the best that we could.
8:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
8:31
SPEAKER_00: Was it always, I mean, was it always a perspective of I'm going to go into engineering after school, or was there any sort of thought about soccer and implementing soccer as some sort of career?
8:44
SPEAKER_02: Um you know, I think a lot of times after graduating, I had thought, man, I miss soccer.
8:51
SPEAKER_02: I wish I could continue playing soccer, but it was never a full thought that I wanted to be a professional soccer player.
8:58
SPEAKER_02: I never even really kind of considered it or considered playing afterwards.
9:04
SPEAKER_02: It was kind of just get my degree, go work as an engineer, start building just kind of my career.
9:10
SPEAKER_02: Um, so I mean, I I did start the a club team with my work.
9:16
SPEAKER_02: So it was indoor here.
9:18
SPEAKER_02: They didn't have a soccer team before.
9:19
SPEAKER_02: And so that was that's fun.
9:21
SPEAKER_02: But I actually really struggled with uh migraines.
9:25
SPEAKER_02: And so every time that I would head the ball, I would get a migraine where I'd lose my vision and be not be able to speak, and I just had really bad symptoms.
9:36
SPEAKER_02: So that's kind of also another reason why I didn't feel that I could continue playing.
9:42
SPEAKER_02: Not that I even thought about it or tried to, like, I wasn't even good enough.
9:45
SPEAKER_02: But um it I understand what you're saying.
9:49
SPEAKER_02: But that was something that I just that was my injury that I struggled with.
9:54
SPEAKER_02: That I it just wasn't worth it for me to continue.
9:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
9:58
SPEAKER_00: Was that your entire life?
9:59
SPEAKER_00: You had those?
10:00
SPEAKER_02: Um, I started getting them in middle school and then, but it wasn't until junior, senior year of college that they started happening more often when I was playing.
10:10
SPEAKER_00: Jeez, that's kind of gno.
10:13
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, it's it's uh yeah, they're crazy.
10:16
SPEAKER_00: What's the mindset then?
10:18
SPEAKER_00: You're going into a game, you're like, all right, I might have to go up for Henderson.
10:22
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, so it's kind of funny.
10:24
SPEAKER_02: So Taylor Jackson and I have played together our entire lives.
10:27
SPEAKER_02: I've known her since I was four years old.
10:29
SPEAKER_02: We went to political school, middle school.
10:31
SPEAKER_00: Dallas too.
10:31
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so we went to school growing up, we played on the same club team.
10:35
SPEAKER_02: Um, so she is the person that's going to give you an elbow.
10:40
SPEAKER_02: She's the physical one, and I would say I'm more finesse.
10:43
SPEAKER_02: So she wins the ball, gives it to me, and then I pass it out.
10:46
SPEAKER_02: And so we junior, senior year, we were the center backs next to each other.
10:51
SPEAKER_00: So that kind of so she was just delegating.
10:53
SPEAKER_02: It was yeah, it's an unspeakable.
10:56
SPEAKER_02: She's got the headers and the physicalness, and I'll just take care of all the other things.
11:03
SPEAKER_02: So it worked out well.
11:04
SPEAKER_01: That's funny.
11:05
SPEAKER_01: I like that that connection.
11:07
SPEAKER_02: Well, and then Claire, Claire was uh also true.
11:14
SPEAKER_02: She had me covered.
11:17
SPEAKER_00: That's funny.
11:18
SPEAKER_00: You just had a group of people protecting you from taking it.
11:21
SPEAKER_02: Pretty much.
11:22
SPEAKER_02: But I mean, yeah, that's I I depended on my teammates for that.
11:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no.
11:29
SPEAKER_00: Um I like that you started a team afterwards.
11:32
SPEAKER_00: I think it's hard for for anyone who played a sport uh to kind of lose that team at atmosphere after college.
11:38
SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah.
11:39
SPEAKER_02: Um, and then I do a sprint and I realize that I'm out of shape and maybe maybe don't maybe realize I'm glad I didn't keep playing.
11:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's actually that's a tough one now.
11:50
SPEAKER_00: If you ever go and play in an actual game and realize how out of shape you are compared to what you're doing.
11:56
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I know.
11:57
SPEAKER_02: I know.
11:57
SPEAKER_02: It is crazy.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: Oh man.
12:01
SPEAKER_00: So then you weren't thinking about soccer afterwards.
12:04
SPEAKER_00: You're kind of you understood that it was, you know, enjoy it while you had it, um, and then moved towards engineering.
12:11
SPEAKER_00: Why do you choose engineering?
12:12
SPEAKER_00: Or what maybe what kind of instead of that, what attracted you to the field of engineering once you were like leaving?
12:18
SPEAKER_00: Like what kind of jobs were you looking at or companies?
12:21
SPEAKER_02: You know, I think this is probably a terrible mindset to have, but I kind of thought, you know, a job is a job.
12:28
SPEAKER_02: And so I I really wasn't aware of what I wanted to do.
12:33
SPEAKER_02: Um, my dad is an engineer, so that's kind of the whole reason.
12:37
SPEAKER_02: I was the little engineer of the family, as everybody called me growing up.
12:41
SPEAKER_02: Um, because I basically was just a mirror image of my dad and just would always help him around the house fixing things and whatever.
12:48
SPEAKER_02: But he actually ended up doing petroleum engineering, and I interned for him one summer, and I just knew that was not for me.
12:55
SPEAKER_02: So that was just one field that I could take off the table.
12:58
SPEAKER_02: But and he had told me that he had a passion for it.
13:01
SPEAKER_02: And so I think I struggled to know exactly what I wanted to do.
13:06
SPEAKER_02: Um, I think in the back of my head, always I knew I wanted to somehow help people.
13:11
SPEAKER_02: I know that's such a broad uh term to say.
13:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it is.
13:16
SPEAKER_02: I think a lot of people want to do that.
13:18
SPEAKER_02: Um so it was kind of I uh at the SMU Career Fair, I got an internship with the the company that I ended up working full-time for.
13:27
SPEAKER_02: And so that's just kind of how I ended up in uh the business.
13:30
SPEAKER_02: And so I was just designing uh mechanical HVAC for high-rise buildings, which was very interesting.
13:37
SPEAKER_02: I it was a great first job.
13:39
SPEAKER_02: I really enjoyed it, but um, it was just kind of the same thing every day for me, and so that's kind of where I where I decided to venture.
13:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so well, it sounds like there are two things there then.
13:54
SPEAKER_00: One is the kind of the wanting to create some sort of positive impact, but the other one was kind of not wanting to do the same thing every day.
14:04
SPEAKER_02: No, yeah.
14:05
SPEAKER_02: I I think the field of engineering, you know, I think a lot of our classes, as you know, you're not necessarily implementing in a job that you're going into.
14:16
SPEAKER_02: It's a tough one.
14:17
SPEAKER_02: But one thing that you do learn is how to solve problems.
14:20
SPEAKER_02: You know, you learn how to kind of bring a new mindset to a problem that may not have a solution, or and then there's math and science where there's one correct answer.
14:32
SPEAKER_02: So it's it's kind of just implementing both of those in your everyday life.
14:36
SPEAKER_02: And I've always enjoyed that, whether it's you know, real life problem or doing a Sudoku puzzle, I've just always enjoyed solving problems, and that's kind of why I thought that engineering was the right path for me.
14:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, it is the definition of engineering, and not that it isn't, I just needed something else on top of it to to kind of, I guess, feel fulfilled in what I wanted to be doing.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: So now it's I think it's a really hard one for people to I think everyone struggles with that.
15:09
SPEAKER_00: I think most people struggle with that.
15:11
SPEAKER_00: In uh, and it's probably one of the reasons for like burnout in jobs and in general is you you keep doing the same thing over and over again, and then you start to ask, like, why am I doing this?
15:20
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, for sure.
15:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, or like what are people really getting out of this?
15:24
SPEAKER_00: And it's it's a tough one because I think people can get into a hole where they don't even realize the benefit that they're causing.
15:32
SPEAKER_00: Like, I would say that building you know the HVAC systems is actually a very you know net positive thing for society, right?
15:41
SPEAKER_00: Um but at the same time you get into the spot where you're like, but is that how I want to impact people?
15:51
SPEAKER_00: Right.
15:52
SPEAKER_02: And no, I I agree.
15:54
SPEAKER_02: I think it was one of those where obviously I'm helping somebody, you know, I'm helping these big companies run their business comfortably in the heat of New York City, but it just wasn't the overall effect that I was hoping to have.
16:12
SPEAKER_02: Um, I did have a friend one time jokingly, but was like, well, you're just making people hot and cold.
16:19
SPEAKER_02: And I was just like, you're not wrong, but so that kind of that made me uh it made me turn my gears a little bit to to rethink what I maybe want to do with my life.
16:33
SPEAKER_00: I really hope that was the moment where you switched to medicine.
16:36
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that was the one thing that got me here.
16:41
SPEAKER_02: No, it was way before then, but that was also like a you're not wrong, but I should probably figure out what I actually want to do.
16:50
SPEAKER_00: I don't, yeah, I agree.
16:52
SPEAKER_00: I think it's hard because uh I don't know.
16:55
SPEAKER_00: I have a I have a mentor kind of guy who's who told me that he's like Flint, you'll you won't know what you're you what you want to do until you're like 45.
17:03
SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh shit.
17:06
SPEAKER_00: I got a lot of waiting to do though, man.
17:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, what am I supposed to do in the meantime?
17:11
SPEAKER_02: Just hang out?
17:12
SPEAKER_00: Pretty much.
17:13
SPEAKER_00: No, but it kind of goes to what you were speaking about.
17:16
SPEAKER_00: It was like you got out, it was like your engineering internship with your dad.
17:20
SPEAKER_00: It's like you have to have the experiences that tell you what you don't want to do.
17:23
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of the path, which is tough because it requires you to do a bunch of things you don't want to do to get there, right?
17:30
SPEAKER_02: Um, but it's one of those where you never know unless you try.
17:32
SPEAKER_02: So and I would have, I would have, you know, obviously now the path that I'm going on.
17:40
SPEAKER_02: I don't think I would have been as happy if I had gone straight from college to a different career.
17:48
SPEAKER_02: Like I'm very content and satisfied with the two years I had in engineering.
17:52
SPEAKER_02: And um it's you know, I don't, I think some one thing that I'm never want to do is kind of look back and regret, like I wish I did this and I wish I had the time to travel or the time to just kind of enjoy my life, which I did have the two years to do that.
18:11
SPEAKER_02: And um so I think I agree it's it's one of those where if I had never done engineering and in in the capacity that I was doing it in straight up engineering, yeah, I would never have known that it's not what I wanted to be doing.
18:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
18:27
SPEAKER_00: Uh I like the way you put that.
18:30
SPEAKER_00: And it's I guess one of the difficulties of that then is finding the moment where it's time to pivot.
18:39
SPEAKER_00: Like what was there a specific moment where you looked around, you're like, I not only do I need to leave um what I'm doing now, here are the options in front of me, which one do I take?
18:52
SPEAKER_00: Right?
18:53
SPEAKER_02: Um I think that's such a hard question for me to pinpoint a specific moment that doesn't have to be one.
19:01
SPEAKER_02: That said, hey, look this direction.
19:04
SPEAKER_02: Um I so my like I said, my dad is an engineer and my aunt's a doctor, so his sister.
19:12
SPEAKER_02: And so I had always kind of thought doctor in the very, very, very back of my head.
19:18
SPEAKER_02: Sure like very back of my head.
19:20
SPEAKER_02: Um but when I took time to think about it, it was oh, another four years of college, another three to seven years of residency.
19:31
SPEAKER_02: It's a long commitment.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
19:33
SPEAKER_00: Uh and a lot of the times there isn't really like a moment of recognition, so I understand that.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: But I do think it's really exciting for someone of your background in engineering to be entering into medicine because there's just so much going on at that um intersection between the between the two, you know?
19:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, it is really exciting.
19:53
SPEAKER_02: I actually um well, like I said, I had decided to do this post back program and the postback program, which I didn't even know that existed until I started doing research.
20:06
SPEAKER_02: I was just gonna take a few online classes to get my prereqs, and then it's like post back program, but I guess it's this huge thing for career changers.
20:13
SPEAKER_02: I was insane.
20:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I had no idea.
20:17
SPEAKER_02: Um so then it kind of gave me an extra year and a half to figure out if it was really what I wanted to do.
20:25
SPEAKER_00: Right, yeah, yeah.
20:26
SPEAKER_02: And it it wasn't until I actually um interned with an ophthalmologist, a doctor in Manhattan, um, that I was like, I really enjoy working with people.
20:40
SPEAKER_02: Um but regarding just like the research and technology and engineering, I was gonna say he was developing a new app for telemethicine.
20:48
SPEAKER_02: And so it's just so interesting that that's another way that um the field is just totally evolving to be able to communicate with your doctors on the phone or through Skype, which is just a lot easier, especially now that we're in the middle of a pandemic.
21:05
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
21:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, why do you say that the postback program has been so valuable for you?
21:16
SPEAKER_02: Um you know, like I said, I think it's just another opportunity to realize if it if becoming a doctor is what um, you know, somebody like me wants to do.
21:30
SPEAKER_02: I think when you are completely switching careers and it is such a long road ahead, it's you know, another four years of of college and then um residency after that, which obviously you're just not making very much money in in residency, and you're not making any money in uh when you're back in school.
21:49
SPEAKER_02: And so it just again gave me just more time to think and sit on my experiences.
21:54
SPEAKER_02: And then also you do have to have a certain amount of um.
22:00
SPEAKER_02: Clinical practice in order to graduate from the program that I was in.
22:04
SPEAKER_02: And yeah, which the clinical experience was actually the most valuable part, I guess I should have said, because it made me realize how much I truly enjoy just working with people on a day-to-day basis and kind of seeing how how vulnerable people are when they come into the doctor's office.
22:26
SPEAKER_02: I think, you know, when you're not in the doctor's office 24-7, you don't realize kind of the pain that a lot of people are going through and the struggles that people are going through.
22:37
SPEAKER_02: And when somebody comes in, you know, with pain in their eyes, and you can just tell that they're hurting, and they leave with maybe not a smile on their face, but a little more hope in the outcome of either a health outcome or just you know being able to talk to somebody.
22:56
SPEAKER_02: And I just think it's really it was a really enlightening experience that a lot of people wouldn't understand unless they are in that environment.
23:08
SPEAKER_02: And it was something that truly just touched my outlook on being a doctor and just kind of gave me more motivation to pursue what I'm what I am trying to pursue.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, absolutely.
23:23
SPEAKER_00: I think that's a wonderful, you know, realization or reflection, especially.
23:27
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: Were there any particular patients or experiences with these doctors where you kind of came out of the hospital or the or the clinic or whatever it was, kind of like pretty stoked?
23:38
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
23:40
SPEAKER_02: I mean, just kind of the little things for one, you know, when a doctor comes in, or sorry, a patient comes in and the doctor remembers a family member and they ask about the family member or something that's important to them, I think it puts a patient at ease.
23:59
SPEAKER_02: Because as I was talking about the vulnerability that people have when they do show up at a doctor's office, I mean they have to give basically their entire life story to this doctor in order to be healed.
24:11
SPEAKER_02: And that's something that you forget that they have to deal with.
24:16
SPEAKER_02: And so even when I started working, there was one patient that came in one time.
24:23
SPEAKER_02: We kind of talked a little bit, and then she came in again, we talked a little more.
24:26
SPEAKER_02: And then the third time she came in, it was like, hey, Taylor, like, how are you doing?
24:30
SPEAKER_02: How's you gonna like?
24:32
SPEAKER_02: Did you watch Gray's Anatomy this week?
24:34
SPEAKER_02: And so it's just like it was just a really cool experience that you just kind of become, they are your patients, but they are also just kind of you you form a relationship, you form a bond with these people that um is different than any other bond that you have with, you know, other people.
24:52
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
24:52
SPEAKER_02: It was just it was really awesome.
24:54
SPEAKER_02: But there was actually one of it was my last day working at the ophthalmologist office, and a patient came in and she had paralysis on half her face, and based on her symptoms, it seemed like it was going to happen to the other side of her face.
25:10
SPEAKER_02: Um, and you could just tell she was terrifying distraught, just yeah, just she felt it sounded like maybe a few other bad things were going on in her life, and sure.
25:22
SPEAKER_02: It was just she seemed really just not hopeful about what was going to happen.
25:30
SPEAKER_02: And you know, the doctor didn't necessarily know exactly what the outcome was going to be, but he was able to kind of lift up her spirits, tell, you know, just having somebody there who's listening, who's understanding, who's trying to help her through the process.
25:46
SPEAKER_02: I think it's just it's just unreal, the effect that a doctor can have on what I'm learning, not just your physical, but your emotional well-being.
25:56
SPEAKER_02: You know, I think people forget about that aspect.
25:58
SPEAKER_02: Um, and that's kind of what I'm learning in my job now, too.
26:01
SPEAKER_02: It's uh a lot of it is just mental, um some people just need the mental support, you know.
26:08
SPEAKER_02: Hey, how are you doing?
26:10
SPEAKER_00: It's like goes a long way.
26:11
SPEAKER_00: It's the even, and I I I completely agree with this, is it's the presence of of a figure like that.
26:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, and you used two words that I think are really interesting because they're completely uh related, which is vulnerability and hope.
26:31
SPEAKER_00: Right?
26:31
SPEAKER_00: Because these people come in, like you say, that woman is terrified.
26:34
SPEAKER_00: She had a you know something awful is happening in her life.
26:37
SPEAKER_00: Um and even though the doctor may not be able to fix that, um, she comes in in this extremely vulnerable state and the presence of that figure or those people, the team that's that's helping her provides some bit of hope, right?
26:54
SPEAKER_00: That's that's the aspect of when these people leave, like you're saying, the little things when they go into you know, they're when they go into the hospital, they're in pain.
27:02
SPEAKER_00: And then even if they just come out with like a little less pain, I think that's kind of a representation of hope.
27:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, I exactly.
27:10
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you that's exactly how how it felt being in the presence and seeing the doctor kind of handle those situations.
27:20
SPEAKER_02: It was something that I hope to mimic someday as a doctor.
27:24
SPEAKER_02: I think empathy goes a long way with people.
27:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
27:28
SPEAKER_00: I mean, like you say, it's a lot about the emotional state.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: And it's a tough one with medicine because right, the primary the primary role is just to heal the physical.
27:39
SPEAKER_00: Um it's it seems like it's becoming much more prevalent though, taking into account the mental state and and how those kind of are um combined.
27:49
SPEAKER_00: Um would you say then um I guess it's an interesting one because it seems like you've found at least an avenue towards uh like what in your mind was you know positive impact on others, right?
28:12
SPEAKER_00: With the instead of making people hot or cold, you you s you're able you see that there's the the possibility to be in a position where you could provide people with that kind of um comfortable feeling in vulnerable.
28:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
28:26
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I I had initially going into engineering, I did mechanical engineering because I was told that it's such a broad um field of engineering, which it is, and there's plenty of things I could do with engineering to kind of be more beneficial to society.
28:46
SPEAKER_02: I just hadn't necessarily found that outlet yet.
28:49
SPEAKER_02: Um but in regards to actually in college my senior year, we did a senior design project, and it was I was paired with four other random engineers, two were electrical and two were biomedical, and then I was the mechanical engineer.
29:09
SPEAKER_02: And we were given the assignment to create a body fat testing device, and this device um was supposed to be handheld and you're easily read and easily done at home by yourself.
29:24
SPEAKER_02: So we're like, oh, this is great, good idea.
29:27
SPEAKER_02: Um, the more research we did, we decided that there was kind of a void in medical research on um people in rural or kind of isolated communities that may not have access to healthcare.
29:42
SPEAKER_02: We figured out that there's a need for people with uh neurological ailments or kind of any diseases that cause muscle deterioration.
29:53
SPEAKER_02: We figured out a way to create a bioelectric impedance device that could measure um kind of your muscle deterioration.
30:03
SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
30:04
SPEAKER_02: So it was one of those that an affordable handheld small device that you could get to these people in rural areas that would be able to kind of take their own measurements and send it straight to the doctor so that then they could kind of see how their muscles are evolving over time, so they're not having to make that trek back and forth to um the doctor, or if they even don't have a doctor that they can go to.
30:31
SPEAKER_02: It's just kind of a um a simple device for them to use.
30:36
SPEAKER_02: So I think that was kind of the first time also that I saw how engineering could fit into the medical world.
30:42
SPEAKER_05: Sure.
30:42
SPEAKER_02: And that was uh the first time I think that I kind of lit up at the idea that my engineering could help other people besides making them hot and cold.
30:55
SPEAKER_02: So it was really cool.
30:58
SPEAKER_02: It was a really hard, um, hard project.
31:01
SPEAKER_02: It was a different kind of team that I'd never I'd worked on teams in my entire life playing soccer, but this was a different kind of team that I had never worked on before.
31:09
SPEAKER_02: So um that was also just uh a really, really cool experience and opportunity to have.
31:16
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, absolutely.
31:17
SPEAKER_00: I think that there's a lot of cool things there.
31:20
SPEAKER_00: A lot of things actually we've talked about in this conversation, kind of starting off with your soccer is this aspect of uh like community and connection, right?
31:29
SPEAKER_00: Um it's not just apparent in the in the kind of desire to interact with individual patients, right?
31:36
SPEAKER_00: Like you're saying with this one woman you met a couple times.
31:39
SPEAKER_00: It's fun to create those bonds.
31:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
31:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, really bad analogy.
31:43
SPEAKER_00: In one of my internships, I went to the same sandwich shop every day and I and I became pals with the guy who made the sandwich.
31:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
31:55
SPEAKER_01: I went back like two years later and he was there and it like hit me pretty hard.
31:59
SPEAKER_04: Oh did he remember you?
32:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
32:03
SPEAKER_02: I love that.
32:04
SPEAKER_02: That's hilarious.
32:05
SPEAKER_02: No, but it's no, I mean, that is this literally the same thing.
32:08
SPEAKER_02: It just feels it's just a nice connection to to have with somebody.
32:13
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
32:13
SPEAKER_00: And especially in the context or the potential context where your work could not only be knowing these people, but also helping them.
32:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no.
32:21
SPEAKER_02: Ah, that's so funny.
32:22
SPEAKER_02: That's true.
32:23
SPEAKER_02: I've always wanted to be the person that somebody knows at a sandwich shop and be like, hey, the regular, but I haven't gotten there yet.
32:31
SPEAKER_02: I don't go to the same place enough.
32:33
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's a good feeling, man.
32:35
SPEAKER_01: It's a funny, it's funny how good that small like cork of life is.
32:40
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
32:40
SPEAKER_02: Well, I actually, so I had to give up the clinical opportunity with the ophthalmologist because school was my schedule wasn't working out.
32:48
SPEAKER_02: But uh, the guy that took over for me, he called me a few weeks later and was like, Hi, do you know this patient?
32:55
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, um, what patient?
32:58
SPEAKER_02: She was asking if you watched Grace Anatomy last week.
33:02
SPEAKER_04: No way.
33:03
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
33:04
SPEAKER_02: I was like, tell her I haven't gotten to it yet, but miss her.
33:08
SPEAKER_01: See what I love this so much.
33:11
SPEAKER_02: It was, yeah.
33:13
SPEAKER_00: Uh no, it's it's all just this kind of idea of the stronger connections you make, regardless of how you impact them.
33:20
SPEAKER_00: But if you are helping them, you kind of weave this stronger network.
33:23
SPEAKER_00: It's like you weave yourself more into uh not to get too philosophical, but like humanity itself, right?
33:30
SPEAKER_00: The stronger bonds you create, the stronger of a force you have that that helps others.
33:35
SPEAKER_00: I think it's powerful.
33:36
SPEAKER_00: I think it's something a lot of people find fulfillment in too.
33:39
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
33:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
33:40
SPEAKER_00: My last question is because we've talked about so much cool stuff in this in this discussion.
33:46
SPEAKER_00: Um, is there one thing uh in particular from this talk, maybe from soccer, from uh your transition from mechanical engineering to medicine, or or the the value you've found from your postdoc program?
34:01
SPEAKER_00: One message you would want um the people listening to to hear that is a really good question.
34:08
SPEAKER_02: I I think one thing that I'm learning now is that in four years, the four years are gonna go by.
34:19
SPEAKER_02: And I think that was something I struggled with because I, you know, I want to be a doctor, I want to be done with school and be practicing or whatever.
34:31
SPEAKER_02: Um, but it's one of those where I could be very content staying in my engineering job and working my nine to five and getting paid money.
34:41
SPEAKER_02: But if the four years are gonna go by either way, I might as well pursue something that that I'm really passionate about.
34:48
SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, even if that takes a little bit of extra effort or time, the time's gonna go by.
34:54
SPEAKER_02: So you might as well pursue what you are passionate about.
34:58
SPEAKER_02: And especially with things that are going on right now, life is so short, as cliche as that sounds.
35:03
SPEAKER_02: It really is.
35:05
SPEAKER_02: And you just I feel like I now am realizing that I don't want to spend a day where I'm not kind of pushing myself towards a goal that I have, and as of right now, my goal is to um be a doctor.
35:19
SPEAKER_02: And so I think you know, the those are two things that a lot of people have probably been told in their lives.
35:27
SPEAKER_02: But um, after going through just kind of the transition between engineering and trying to pursue medical school, those are kind of my my two big takeaways so far that I would hope other people um could use in their lives.
35:43
SPEAKER_02: Because, like I said, I have had a few people reach out to me regarding my career change.
35:49
SPEAKER_02: And you know, it's something that I just think is is really important if you're thinking about doing something.
35:56
SPEAKER_02: I think you should.
35:57
SPEAKER_02: I think you should follow your passions, your dreams.
36:00
SPEAKER_02: And if you're driving towards something and you figure out that it's not what you want to do, that's still the correct path that you're supposed to take.
36:09
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
36:10
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
36:11
SPEAKER_00: Like you said, the time is gonna pass.
36:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's gonna go by.
36:15
unknown: Yeah.
36:16
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
36:17
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much, Danner.
36:18
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, of course.
36:19
SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much.
36:28
SPEAKER_00: I want to thank Taylor for that conversation.
36:30
SPEAKER_00: I had a lot of fun listening to her.
36:32
SPEAKER_00: If you liked this, I would recommend episode six with Madison McKay or episode 19 with Brandon Maddox.
36:38
SPEAKER_00: They are entirely different discussions, but draw similar parallels on the possibilities created from vulnerability and connection.
36:44
SPEAKER_00: I love how Taylor has found a potential avenue towards what, in her mind, positive impact looks like in a career, by seeing the comfort brought to patients by doctors.
36:54
SPEAKER_00: Being in vulnerable positions can put you at a greater risk for a number of negative experiences, regardless of if you are forced into that vulnerable spot for a medical reason or choose to do so out of your own volition.
37:05
SPEAKER_00: However, it is remarkable how that vulnerability opens up the door for a type of connection and hope that really isn't accessible without it.
37:12
SPEAKER_00: And that isn't to knock a previous job, it's just to say that it's exciting to experience firsthand a way you would want to create impact.
37:19
SPEAKER_00: But the decision to really chase after that passion is an action that touches on the main theme of our chat and something I find really impressive with Taylor, which is the desire to spend time well.
37:28
SPEAKER_00: She says it best, the time is going to go by either way, regardless of what you do.
37:34
SPEAKER_00: And that's true for your job.
37:36
SPEAKER_00: But it's also true with if you're exercising and keeping your body healthy or not, if you're taking responsibility for yourself and your actions, or if you're being honest or dishonest with your friends, loved ones, and yourself.
37:47
SPEAKER_00: At some point, the time will pass, and you will have to look back at not only what you did, but also who you were during that time.
37:55
SPEAKER_00: It makes me wonder if I'll be proud of how I spent that time and the person who I was throughout it.
37:59
SPEAKER_00: And maybe it makes you wonder the same thing.
38:01
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening.
38:07
SPEAKER_00: If you liked this episode of Seeking Authenticity, that's freaking awesome.
38:11
SPEAKER_00: All I want to ask of you, the listener, in return for the time and effort I put into making it, is that you take a deep breath.
38:19
SPEAKER_00: I mean really breathe.
38:21
SPEAKER_00: Breathe so that it stretches out your shoulders and your back and your chest and pushes out your stomach.
38:27
SPEAKER_00: No more of these shallow, bullshit breaths.
38:29
SPEAKER_00: They're barely keeping you alive, my friend.
38:31
SPEAKER_00: And after you exhale, go out and soak up today.
38:35
SPEAKER_00: Because in the end, your actions and the way they interact with the world and the people around you right now are all you have in this life.
38:43
SPEAKER_00: So be authentic with them.
38:45
SPEAKER_00: Peace.