Hi, I'm hoping for some advice. I'm 37, with 2 dcs (5 and baby). I am a doctor, training in psychiatry, but I dislike my job. Im feeling lost as I only trained in my job as I needed stability after a number of health issues affected first myself then my partner, and after some discussion with colleagues felt that changing from my original specialty to psychiatry would be better in terms of work life balance. Initially it helped, but a few years in I realised it wasn't just the specialty I didn't like, it was being a doctor. I planned to leave and try something else but we've had a fairly horrendous run of luck with illnesses and difficult home circumstances, so I stayed and am quite close to being a consultant.
But now things are more stable, and the thought of doing this for 30 years fills me with despair. I feel too old to change careers, and the thought of taking on debt scares me, as does leaving paid work and relying on my partner to shoulder the earning for us all. Also my self confidence is gone, and as someone with recurrent depression and generalised anxiety I don't feel I'd be able to tackle something new.
I feel hopelessly stuck, and can't remember when I last felt happy or at ease. Ideally, I'd like to do something low stress with regular hours, but realistically although I have a 1st class science degree and my medical degree, I don't have any skills that could get me a normal job. I've looked at retraining as a teacher, or another health job outside medicine, but just can't see myself succeeding, and living in Devon employment opportunities seem scarce. I've spent time looking at care work, or supermarket jobs, as it think that might be easier to get, but I'd still feel guilty leaving my partner as the main wage earner. I don't know if anyone has any advice about realistic jobs someone like me could look for, or retrain for, but I feel like my life has been a complete disaster and a waste of a once quite good brain. Sorry for the long post.