Member-only story
Feb 8, 2021
I’m nearly 78-years-old and I just renewed my medical license for another two years.
Some people think I’m crazy to continue to work this long; I’ve sometimes wondered that myself. I’ve “retired” a few times, but the love of working as a psychiatrist always draws me back to it.
When people ask me when I’ll stop working, my response is to say, “I want to stop right before they ask me to quit.” So far, that time hasn’t come. But it looms in the future.
Those of us who work in mental health know that the anguish of those suffering from mental illness is the worst of all human suffering.
Working past retirement age is a gift and is mentally healthy.
