I Just Quit Medicine - Why I Left

I reached the end of the video because I saw myself in you and I can notice the movements of the hands, eyes, and body, and even the way you speak. It seems difficult for you, even though I got a grade of 92, but my state only allowed veterinary medicine, and it was not a good success, and some engineering, but it was a secondary school course. I loved to do it. I try, but unfortunately most of the workers are male. In another city, I had to change jobs, and that required a year of staying without studying. I learned the Spanish language, developed my skills in drawing and trees in particular, and read many books, but the feeling of failure surrounds me. Anyway, I hope you continue publishing because I feel good when I see your difference. with me

Just finished watching your video Zach. It took a lot of strength and courage to talk about everything as well as you did. But one thing you didnt mention was your life outside of residency. Were you speaking to friends, family regularly? Doing activities purely for your enjoyment? Keeping up with the things that give you peace, basically? It can't all be medicine.

Do justice to yourself before others. Trust your guts, Zach. All will be alright ❣

This is huge! I am so happy for you, Zach. I've admired your work for so long, I even got to the point where I would motivate myself with your vídeos and try to match your energy and passion for work. I was miserable in Law School, I felt so confused because I had dreamt of that moment for so long that I wouldn't understand why was I feeling so bad. It took me two years to get the courage to drop out. The day I left, not only did i lose my career, but my identity. It has taken me another two years to get back up again, and I am currently letting myself be and enjoy life on its daily happenings.

This video came at the most amazing time. It reinforced my choice and it somehow connected me even more to your journey, and it made me feel seen and understood.

I admire you even more. This was no easy thing. Your bravery to accept letting down people in order to honor yourself is a hell of a decision.

Congratulations, your life awaits ❤

Dude. You’re a rockstar for this. I’m an M1 - been following you for a HOT minute. You inspired me. Encouraged me along the journey. I’m grateful to say that because of you, I feel very differently than you do. I’m happy to be here. At peace. Fulfilled. Not striving. Just enjoying. It’s good.

You deserve that feeling. You’ve done enough already, Doc. Find your peace in this season.

im obsessed with you king

1hour cope yapping, everyone says the same, theres more in life and the system doesnt help much, the end, wish u the best bro

beautiful stuff

As soon as you said "the destruction of brilliance" I had to hit pause, because of how dead on this point is!!!!
Anyone that gets into medicine is mind blowingly brilliant, and to experience other egotistical or "misguided" seniors/residents/attendings downgrade you to being dumb is absolutely revolting. Especially when alot of Medicine needs to be learned, you don't just wake up knowing how to resuscitate someone or put in orders into a freaking messy EMR. Any pause or hesitancy in your differential diagnosis on the spot of your first time treating a new condition and your immediately labeled as not good enough!!
Anyone that went through residency should do better, this selective memory of what it was like to be a student or resident needs to be done away with and people need to be bloody grownups and admit that they too were once a student!!

I don't blame you. The SYSTEM has failed you. We have lost someone who could truly make a difference and I blame it on the system that has been created that keeps good people out.


Time and time again, I see it in our medical system and education system. This country is falling apart!

With so much invested in medical school stay in medicine as a practicing doctor least part time

Zach, we are always here to support you. I am amazed by your passion and bravery to commit to a happier life, and watched your whole video. Do not doubt yourself, we are always here to uplift your kind soul<3 I can sense from your emotions that you made the right decision and your life is about to transform!

i just wanna say it takes some massive balls to be honest like that. i cant imagine the pressure you mustve felt when making a decision like that but i know the relief mustve been at least as much. i hope that i can have that courage when i have to make big decisions about my life.

This is so silly- but I started watching your channel because I was dating a guy who wanted to be medical, so I wanted to be able to help and understand what he would be going through. I no longer am dating that guy, but I held onto your channel because I actually liked hearing about your journey and your advice because it made me consider going to PT for the military. This video is a shock for your change, but I’m not surprised about your realization on the problems of medicine as an industry as someone who had a mom who was an RN nurse… I’ll keep it cute- it was rough, so rough she told me not to be a nurse. Not to be a zombie.

You’re amazing. You never a heart of gold. Sending you alot of love, prayers and best wishes. I can relate to you so so much. Thankyou so much for making this video and for being so so transparent.

Wow Zach, you really helped me through the years of study. I switched after finishing art academy to climate physics. The switch, the maths and pre-master was really hard and because of you I could study for hours and be inspired to keep pushing. I'm now at my final year of the masters and almost finished. I admire your courage of seeing you taking this step I find it so so inspiring. I know that taking a decision like this isn't easy and a lot of thought goes into it. Thank you for openly sharing this! Know you always have the choice to go back!

I do not know if this is a good or a bad thing. But, after watching your video, I am now questioning my decisions in life. I have been following you since my first year of college (I am 2nd year now!) and you are one of my inspirations why I want to purse medicine. I took your class about Anki and been applying it my whole college years. I think most of us, who would want to pursue a medical career has almost the same rationale as you. We are so interested how our body work, but aside from it, I want to serve the world and share my experiences to younger generations.

I just want to thank you for giving me this opportunity to have a reflection of what I really want to happen in my life. Besides medicine, my interests are fruitful. Same as you, I am very keen towards content creating. In fact, I tried creating my own website and post blog posts there about my experiences in life. I was also interested in monetizing it but college hits so hard and I had no way managing my blog and my studies, org works and overall well-being.


This video is totally a surprise for me. I was scrolling and then a video from you appeared. I was expecting a video about productivity, med school stuff and the like. I never thought you would want to quit medicine as I see how passionate you are. Anyways, this is getting too long. Again, thank you for enlightening about my decisions. I would think deeply about this but my heart and mind goes to medicine for now. I want to experience doing rounds, the challenge of med school and of course, treating and managing patients.

Glad to have you back, Brother! I am looking forward what happens next and hope that you've come to read this. Peace!

I am so PROUD of you for doing the hard, unconventional thing by leaving medicine because you knew that was best for you and your patients! You are always going to positively impact others lives no matter what you do, because you have such an amazing personality and desire to help others truly! ❤

I'm not a doctor but 3 years ago I decided to undertake something big and that I think I'll love but the process to get there is hurting me, and I worry about the same things you have. I still think its worth it at this point but I appreciate your perspective.

Wow Zach my jaw literally dropped when I saw this video on my feed. You have made an impact through my pre nursing journey that I worked so hard for to get where I am now… nursing school! You showed me how to use Anki and prioritize my study time. After finishing my clinical rotations of my first semester in nursing school, I can relate to you in some way because my eyes opened so much to a new world I hadn’t seen before. Studying in school is wayyyyy different than actually practicing what you learned. Now I know nursing school is nothing compared to med school, but I think you did well by prioritizing yourself. You will discover a new version of yourself by taking this leap!

Might be my own anchoring in thinking since I am an emergency medicine resident, but the trend I've noticed is that medicine isn't designed to make people better. It's designed to manage chronic illness and keep patients in the system of perpetually being helpless. Maybe my thought process will change over time. However, in my day to day clinical setting, it's really a shame to see how helpless our intervention has made the average person. I still get joy from it, I went into this knowing that reality, but seeing it versus idealizing it in your head is wildly different.

That being said, the 5% of people who I really can help in a meaningful way is worth it to me. I'm sorry it wasn't for you.

Excellent story telling. I’m not studying to become a doctor or anything like that, but you captivated me althroughout.

Watched whole vid. 🔥 Allow the good LORD to guide you.
🙏🙌

Zach, you are an expert storyteller, super charismatic, and very good at making inspirational videos. You keep learning and sharing your knowledge and it's a beautiful cycle. I'm sure compared to being in the clinic, the people you inspire and interact with who are grateful for what you do on your videos/blogs/newsletters are way more than 5%. It seems you are meant for so much more and you will still be affecting so many lives. You've created something super special and it's refreshing to see someone who is already so successful as you be so candid about their journey. I'm excited for you. Thank you.

I have wanted to quit medicine for the last 5 years and still haven't found the courage yet. You are so brave and courageous. I wish you all the best!!

I think you made the right decision. I hope you realize how much strength it takes to make that kind of decision, after all the time and resources you put into it. I'm afraid for the ones who need to leave but don't have the strength to make the same choice as you. Some feel suicide is their only option. Modern medicine is increasingly crushing and killing brilliance, just like you said. Spot on.

Wow Zachary , truly is you're still a Doctor . And I'm sure your patients were so grateful to have you. Thank you for this message .

I’m a plumbing contractor in Los Angeles. I was put into this field because of my father and it’s been 20 years i have been doing this. I have no direction and don’t know what else to do and constantly find myself talking to other people to see if there is something else that i was destined to do. I always felt out of place in what i do and i want to leave my trade and get into something else. I know what you mean. I’m still watching the video. Good luck for the future. Well explained on your situation.

Medical school and residency shattered me. The pressure, the sacrifices, the abuse, the perpetual exhaustion, the stress. But I pushed through it, because the idea of not completing it didn't even occur to me honestly. When I finished internal medicine residency, I thought it was a new start for me. I felt like everything was going to be better. I made it through four years of clinical practice, but the life was gradually draining out of me, and I always felt like the workload was just a massive weight on my shoulders that I could never get on top of. Patients/families were never happy and/or were often downright angry. I often worked 12 hour days, 7 days a week, with very little support or acknowledgement of any kind. I was becoming increasingly depressed. One day I left work in 2018, and drove myself straight to another hospital, to check into emerg as a patient myself. I could not stand living one more day feeling the way I was feeling, and knew I wasn't going to make it if I didn't do something drastic. I was admitted to the psych unit for four months with severe depression.

It has been over six years now, and several psych admissions later, and I still haven't returned to full time internal medicine. I have not been able to beat the depression, so this year I underwent deep brain stimulation surgery in a final effort to get it under control. I think it may be helping to some extent. I do the occasional on call shift or cover for a colleague at the hospital, but I can feel the anxiety and the stress the moment I step through those doors. Honestly some days I can barely manage to take care of myself, let alone be responsible for the wellbeing of so many others. But I have not been able to let medicine go completely. It's all I know, and all I've known since I first started medical school almost twenty years ago.

Should I have quit medicine a long time ago? Perhaps. I'm honestly not sure. I know I care about people, and I care about doing good work, but I now feel very weak and tired and beaten down. Leaving medicine would be a very scary and hard decision to make. Kudos to you for having the strength to do so if you knew in your heart that it wasn't for you. Life is too short to make such huge sacrifices if they don't bring you happiness and peace.

If anyone is reading this, don’t quit. You will live with regret on your deathbed.

Psychedelics are just an exceptional mental health breakthrough. It's quite fascinating how effective they are against depression and anxiety. Saved my life.

Zach, that's a huge decision, and it might seem crazy after all the hard work you've put in, but when you explained it—especially the thought of 20 more six-month stretches—it makes sense. If it's draining the life out of you, it's just not worth it. Plus, you’ve got plenty of knowledge and transferable skills, and I have no doubt you’ll succeed at whatever comes next.

Start your own family medicine clinic!

Yea, whatever man. Fires up Anki

Felt the same way. Then decided to go to pathology residency. One of the best decisions ever. Consider pathology residency too. You most likely will like it.

I just want to say this couldn't have come at a more perfect timing for me. im in my early 30's and like you my dream was to always get into med school. I had like 8 years (master's work experience, etc) gap. but taking tests was never for me and ultimately during second year I was dismissed ( I only had gotten into 1 DO school). luckily I had a very supportive family. this happened a few months ago. I know in my case I was forced to leave but now i'm forced to find passion in other ways and like you I hope to make a difference in another way. if anyone reading this has had a similar experience, please reach out. I still think about med but I really need to move on.

Wow that was powerful, Zach
I wish you all the best and I really loved the long video format, especially your authenticity, the way you were telling.. it was just so nice to listen and on top of that valuable

No offense or anything, but in my first glance, I thought you are Steve from Minecraft.

Everyone in my CBL group chat “if Zach Highley can’t make it, how are we supposed to” - we’re all rooting for you :)

I wanted to thank you for this: I’m a foreign language education student doing my bachelor’s degree and I discovered your channel when I was a senior in high school during COVID-19, looking for ways to optimize my study techniques because I was doing my schooling completely online with like 7 classes!

Now, I’m about to graduate from the University of Louisville and student teaching in a high school French class—it’s like the residency of education!
Thank you for being so honest and clear and for telling us about your decision to change your life by leaving the profession.

It’s very easy to get burnt out by doing hard work with so many “squeezes” day-in day-out. Taking a step back, whether temporarily or permanently, provides the break we all need. I think what you’ll find is that this will get you where you need to go: we are all traveling down our very own unpredictable paths.

Last year, I left a tutoring job because of a fear of making mistakes and being a bad teacher and almost left education. I stuck with my major, but leaving that tutoring job was a step in the process and I ended up landing teaching positions in the community and ultimately, grew my own comfort with teaching which made student teaching so much more worthwhile. Leaving the tutoring wasn’t ideal, and I had a lot of the same reservations as you at the time, but it helped me grow into a stronger person.

Maybe even this semester I’ve had my doubts, but I know that every day is an opportunity to learn. I even watched your video on making mistakes during residency which helped me feel better (I think I commented there too!) because I saw that all new professionals make mistakes. Thanks to you, I’ll have this mindset as I enter my career in January.

You too, Zach, will become a stronger person and find your path. Also, I’m sure there are other ways to apply your knowledge of medicine. For instance, in education there are other fields (administration, assessment, leadership, tutoring, textbook author/editor, research, professor). Maybe there are indeed, as you mention, other ways to help people through your knowledge base. Every winding decision ends up getting you where you belong!

Bon courage à toi, Zach ! Tu trouveras le chemin professionnel à suivre !

Cody M. Smith

In Pa. Enjoying your talk

It's not your fault. Being a doctor is a holy calling, in an unholy industry. When you're really chronically ill, you learn real fast that medical research and science has utterly failed the sick. Your instincts were right. If you want to know the truth about health, read Medical Medium or Medical Medium Brain Saver. It will blow your mind and help you to understand why the industry is so life-destroying.

Hope you verbalized this to the board. Its sickening that doctors have all this insurance and admin stuff to do. Lawyers are cancer

اووه يا حبيبي انت 🥺🥺