The Power of Embracing A Non-Linear Path: Smita Malhotra (Transcript)

Here is the full transcript of Smita Malhotra’s talk titled “The Power of Embracing A Non-Linear Path” at TEDxTemecula conference.

Dr. Smita Malhotra’s talk, “The Power of Embracing A Non-Linear Path,” highlights her journey from a medical professional to a wedding photographer and back to medicine, emphasizing the importance of embracing change and uncertainty in one’s career. She discusses her struggle with traditional expectations and how she found fulfillment in pursuing her passion for photography, despite initial fears.

Malhotra then returned to the medical field, integrating meditation and mindfulness into her practice, showcasing the growth and innovation that result from stepping out of one’s comfort zone. Her experience led her to believe that risk-taking and pivoting paths can lead to greater personal and professional fulfillment. She emphasizes the significance of listening to one’s inner voice and following curiosity, which guided her through various career changes.

Malhotra’s story is a testament to the idea that nonlinear career paths can lead to unexpected opportunities and personal growth. Her talk encourages others to embrace their diverse interests and skills, underscoring the power and potential of a non-linear life and career journey.

Listen to the audio version here:

TRANSCRIPT:

The Journey Begins

Almost 20 years ago, in front of my family, mentors, and colleagues, I walked across the stage to graduate from medical school. But I wasn’t excited because I had just become a doctor. I was excited because I was finally going to achieve the dream my parents had for me: the opportunity to live a safe, stable, and secure life. I am a first-generation immigrant of South Asian parents, parents who risked it all, along with me, to start over again in a new and unknown land.

There is great uncertainty and risk, and in that uncertainty also comes heartache, stress, and disappointment.

So it was understandable that what my parents wanted most of all for me was safety and security. Growing up, my acceptable career choices consisted of three options: doctor, lawyer, or engineer. I chose doctor. I genuinely love the art of science, and I love the ability to help others during the most trying times of their lives.

But I would be lying if I told you that I was completely fulfilled during the first couple of years of my career. I always felt like something was missing. I grew up loving the creative arts. Photography, film, writing were my passions.

Embracing Non-Linearity

I always thought that I would pursue a career in one of those fields. You see, I learned very early on that my career path had to be linear for me to succeed. How many of you have been taught about the proverbial ladder to success, where we go to college, we get a great job, and we work our way up from there? I’m guessing many of us, when we were younger, imagined a straight path to success.

But if you could go back and talk to your younger self now, what would you say? In fact, I would venture to guess that many of you, like myself, learned that our paths and our careers, just as in life, are not linear. Instead of climbing that proverbial ladder, we find ourselves climbing a mountain, where sometimes the steps are secure and stable, and at other times, filled with uncertainty and have required us to step into the unknown and chart a new path forward.

Today, I want to talk to that person, sitting deep in that unknown, that is unsure about how this new step or this new path in their life is connecting them to who they want to be and to the peak of that mountain that they want to climb.

I wish I had told my younger self to embrace the unknowns, because it is in these unknowns, these pivots, these transitions, that we reform ourselves. So let me take you to the present day with a story. As the Chief Medical Director of a large school district navigating a global pandemic, I was called to several meetings with the California Department of Public Health. It was in that first meeting that I immediately recognized one of the lead pediatricians.

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Unexpected Connections

And I didn’t recognize him because we had worked together before. I recognized him because I was the wedding photographer that photographed his wedding ten years ago. Sitting in my official role, it took me several more meetings for me to very awkwardly muster up the courage to say, “I think we’ve met before.” And what he said to me moved me.

He said, “You know, it did occur to me that you were my wedding photographer, but I couldn’t imagine how you could be sitting here now.” And I don’t blame him, right? But it got me thinking about how we think about our paths in life. I’ve been a pediatrician for almost 15 years.

And when I introduce myself in that way, you may assume as you would for any physician that I’ve had a safe and stable path. But my path has been filled with pivots, risks, opportunities, and tremendous leaps of faith. Every single step in my life has connected to the next. And so today I want to talk with you about the power of embracing a nonlinear path.

The Power of Embracing Risks

I want to share more about my journey with you through the three lessons that have shaped my life. The first lesson is to change the way you view risk and security. A couple of years into my medical career, I bought myself a professional camera. Photography was a passion of mine and I bought the camera simply because I wanted to learn more.

Soon, this passion became an obsession. And I found myself spending my evenings working on photography techniques and lighting, and my weekends second shooting with other photographers at weddings and events. All the while, I maintained a blog. Back when blogging was the rage, where I shared stories about my life and shared my photos.

I thought of myself as a doctor. And photography was simply a way for me to unleash that creative side of me. Until the day I received an email. It was from a young woman, recently engaged, who told me that she couldn’t imagine anyone else photographing her wedding but me.

My first instinct was to politely reply and say, “Girl, I’m not a photographer. In fact, that’s just my side hustle. And let me send you a list of all the photographers that can do this job for you.” But something held me back. A small but mighty voice inside of me. An inner knowing, I like to call it. The author, Dr. Wayne Dyer, talked about an inner knowing.

He said, “An inner knowing, along with a burning desire, is the prerequisite for becoming a person that is capable of manifesting their heart’s desires.” There was something about wedding photography that pulled me in. It was this milestone in a person’s life, and you had one chance to capture it. I always said, “Physicians save lives, and photographers preserve life.”

I had an inner knowing, and I knew what was in my heart. And so I listened to my heart, and I said yes. What happened next still amazes me to this day. I started photographing weddings all over the United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and even Greece.

A Leap of Faith

And here’s the crazy part. I left medicine to pursue wedding photography full time. Looking back, I can tell you that I was terrified to take a leap into the unknown, to leave behind the safety and security that I’d worked so hard to achieve. “How would I explain this career change?” I thought. “Am I ruining my medical career forever?” The conversation with my parents can be summed up into one phrase: utter disappointment.

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And I don’t blame them, right? They took the biggest risk of their lives, so I wouldn’t have to worry. I became a physician, which is thought to lead to a safe and stable path. And here I was, by all intents and purposes, taking an incredible risk. But here’s the thing. I spent my entire life avoiding risk.

I saw the struggles that my parents faced, and I started to see risk with a sense of danger. But my parents came to the United States so I could have opportunity. And in every great opportunity comes a level of risk. And when I started to think about the finite years I had left to live, and the infinite opportunities I wanted to pursue, the cost of staying safe was much greater than the cost of taking a risk.

Embracing Authenticity and Change

My immigrant experience taught me two things. Real, life-affirming security comes with living life authentically and on your own terms. But you can only get there if you’re willing to risk the life you are living for the life that is worth living. The second lesson is that change is not only an essential, but a required path to growth.

Two years into my wedding photography business, I was faced with a decision. My road to having kids and starting a family was a long and difficult one. My pregnancy with the first child brought many challenges. And I knew that the physical effort that photographing weddings required was no longer feasible for me at this point in my life.

Embracing Mindfulness in Medicine

Along the way, in the struggles that I faced, I discovered the art of meditation and mindfulness. Understanding the changes that it brought to my own health and well-being, I always wondered what it would be like if I incorporated this into my medical practice. And so, I took the next terrifying leap of my career and came back to medicine with a private practice that incorporated meditation and mindfulness into medical visits. I had the same questions this time around.

How do I explain this career change, I thought. Will the medical community welcome me back? I was uncomfortable and scared, but I took the leap anyway. What happened next, again, amazes me to this day.

Not only did the medical practice grow, but major brands reached out to me to work with me to talk about meditation and mindfulness. A publishing company signed me to write my first book on caring for newborns and giving my advice as a pediatrician. I say all of this to underscore an important point. I went into wedding photography wondering if I was ruining my medical career.

Embracing Uncertainty and Change

I came back to medicine wondering if I would be accepted again. It was the willingness to get uncomfortable and embrace change that brought me to the next step of my life. Dr. Deepak Chopra, another physician who followed a non-linear path, said that at the outset of his medical career, he had the security of knowing exactly where he was headed, yet what he didn’t count on was the uncertainty of life.

There is wisdom in uncertainty. It opens the door to the unknown, and only from the unknown can life be renewed constantly. When you’re willing to embrace change, when you’re willing to embrace new opportunities, when you’re willing to adjust to the unknown, that not only makes you valuable, but it opens the door to the greater possibilities that life has in store for you. The third and final lesson is to follow your curiosity.

Following Curiosity and Inner Knowing

A couple of years after I came back into medicine, I was working with our county to build a program that helped to develop resilience in children going through trauma. It was then when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and our schools diverted to remote learning. For seven months, I was deployed to work inpatient in an overwhelmed hospital system, while also ensuring that my two kids under 10 could manage remote learning. One day, I came across a job listing for the school district where both my children attended school.

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They were looking for a medical director to help build resilience in their employees, to bring wellness programs into the district, and to lead the COVID-19 response to the reopening of schools. The more I learned about this position, the more I realized that every single step in my life has prepared me for exactly this. It involved public speaking, public health, creativity, my work with meditation, mindfulness, and wellness. I had that inner knowing again, that small but mighty voice inside of me.

It was telling me that I know I can do this. But this time, there was another voice. It was telling me that I’m not good enough, or what if I fail, or what if I can’t handle all the responsibilities of this position? I was faced with a choice.

Overcoming Doubts and Embracing Growth

Do I listen to the voice telling me that I’m not good enough, or that deeper, more powerful voice telling me to step into the arena that I was being called into? I realized that I had to look at this decision differently. In my work as a pediatrician, a common tool that I’ve often taught children is the art of reframing, where you change the way you talk to yourself when you want to see a situation from a different perspective. You see, my inner knowing made me curious about this next step.

When you’re curious, you aren’t fixated on what the end result could be. So instead of thinking, “What if I fail?” I was able to reframe that to, “I’m curious about this next step in my life. And I’m excited about the growth and opportunities that it will bring.”

Changing my mindset to one of curiosity calmed my fears of failing. Just like with photography, I was intrigued. I wanted to learn more. I knew I could grow as a person.

Redefining Success and Identity

I remember thinking that if I could be successful at wedding photography, something that I had never done before, what else can I do? And that is the question I want to leave you with. If you find yourself following your curiosity and being successful at something you’ve never done before, what else can you do? So let me reintroduce myself.

My name is Dr. Smita Malhotra. I’m a pediatrician. I’m passionate about school and public health. I’m also an author, a photographer. I film videos and I understand the power of great lighting. Every single moment of following my curiosity, every single pivot, every single transition, every single moment of embracing the unknown has led me closer to the peak of my own mountain, to the safety and security of a life authentically lived, because just as there is no such thing as a linear life, our careers don’t have to be either.

We can bring the depth and vastness of our entire being to all the areas where we live, work, and play. And that is the power of embracing a non-linear path.