on stumbling into my (almost) dream job

and the many no's along the way

I kind of can’t believe I’m writing this post. I’ve recently hinted at a new work opportunity, and after quite literally years of back and forth, I finally signed the contract last week.

It started as something I was deeply skeptical about, and quite frankly I was a little offended that I was identified as a person of interest for the position (hello ego, nice to see you!)

The first email I received about this program was in November of 2023. Yes, that’s right. A year and a half ago. The conversation went dark by June, 2024 and then resurfaced in January of 2025. And nearly 5 months later, the program is in its nascent stages.

The position is to help develop a comprehensive and multi-disciplinary wellness and weight management program at my hospital system. I’m not completely changing jobs, just changing up my role a bit. And this post is a journey of how I got there.

Read on for:

• feeling ethically at odds with some of what the position entails

• politely declining the position before a cautious yes (accepting an imperfect job)

• details about the position and program

• what my new work schedule will look like

• the satisfaction of growing professional roots somewhere

So if you saw the words ‘weight management’ and immediately cringed or recoiled…same.

This was a reason I’ve been cautious from the beginning.