Turning Fear into Fuel | Dr. Charmaine Gregory

In episode 245, Taylor interviews Dr. Charmaine Gregory, MD. She is an Emergency Physician and host of the podcast, Fearless Freedom with Dr. G. They discuss her podcasting journey and how it helped transform her fear of public speaking, her steps to cure burnout, and why we need to stop comparing ourselves to others if we want to find fulfillment. 

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Episode Summary

Here’s a summary of what we discussed on this episode:

• Dr. Charmaine Gregory is an EMed Nocturnist and has been doing overnights for 14 years
• She always had an inherent desire to be a doctor growing up, and when she was 10, she moved from Jamaica to the US with her mother so she would have more opportunities
• “I didn’t have the exposure to the [medical field]. I just had a vision of what it should be. And then I just did the things necessary to get there.”
• With her natural multitasking skills, and inclination to always stay busy, she found her home in Emergency Medicine
• When faced with her first acute trauma, she rose to the challenge and enjoyed the opportunities the ED brought as a student
• Her journey to podcasting starts with an earlier journey of personal development and focus on self-care due to experiencing burnout
• She had an intense fear of public speaking, and after living with years of distress, decided to face her fears head on in a two-pronged approach: exposure and podcasting to document the journey
• “And so the first approach was I was going to desensitize myself, just like somebody who has an allergy. I was just going to put myself in a situation as much as possible so that I would then not feel as intense these emotions, these situational things that were happening to me. And I would hopefully be able to transform that fear into fuel for performance.”
• Step two, she started a podcast about facing fears and documenting her journey
• Ultimately, the personal growth she’s experienced throughout it all has lead to her fulfillment, happiness, and improved her life and career
• Dr. Taylor Brana: “I think the one thing that people don’t realize about fear is, you don’t just disintegrate fear about something right away. It happens in little steps over time.”
• Dr. Gregory shares her story of burnout, which happened from saying Yes to everything, and suffering a miscarriage and compartmentalizing the loss
• After her three children were born, she started running steadily, getting into shape, and then suffered an injury that went undiagnosed for a year
• Ultimately, the injury lead to weight gain, and she continued her personal development journey
• By joining a group that held each other accountable for their workouts, she was also able to look inwards and see the lifestyle changes that needed to happen
• Dr. Taylor Brana: “The personal development journey is incredibly powerful. And it’s something you cannot explain to people, but once you take this journey and just to go back to what you said before, as soon as you start to face the dragon or the fear or whatever that you’re tackling.”
• Becoming a public speaker and beginning a podcast lead to opportunities at Podfest, where Dr. Gregory says she experienced imposter syndrome and felt more nervous than she ever had in medicine
• She ultimately used her fear to fuel her drive
• “here it is: that I even got introduced to this whole other world because I made a decision. To face my fear. And then, now I am able to share that with this new tribe that I’m a part of and it just made it very, very exhilarating. And I felt like that was a very powerful moment.“
• Dr. Gregory is now offering a course online
• Her biggest takeaways? “don’t compare, and remember that you’re in progress.”

We are always in progress

The advice that I give to whoever is listening is, you have to – we as a whole have to – stop comparing ourselves to others. Try not to compare your day one to somebody’s middle of chapter or end of book, because it’s just not a fair thing. And always remember that you are constantly in progress. So no matter where you are right now, you’re not going to be in the same spot, unless you choose to be, in the future. You can literally make things happen on an incremental basis that will put you in a better place in the future than you are right now. So don’t compare, and remember that you’re in progress.

Dr. Charmaine Gregory

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Stop comparing, enjoy the chapter you are on! Episode 245 of The Happy Doc

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Episode References

Visit Dr. Charmaine’s Website: ferventlyfitwithcharmaine.com
Listen to Fearless Freedom with Dr. G on Libsyn, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow and connect with Dr. Charmaine on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter

Patricia Cornwell’s Scarpetta book series
Podfest Global Summit

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Transcript available on Page Two.