5 Things to Do During Your “Funemployment” Before Starting a Job in Primary Care

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If you’re about to start a job in primary care, first of all: congrats!!
Second of all: this short window between jobs — lovingly referred to as funemployment — is invaluable! Enjoy it!

Once clinic life starts, your days will be full of patient visits, charting, inbox messages, and wondering how it’s already dark outside. If you’re anything like me though, you just went from 2-3 years of non-stop studying and clinicals and now you have weeks to months of ~waiting~. So if you have even a few weeks before your start date, here are five things I highly recommend doing to set yourself up for success (and sanity).

1. Take a vacation — or a staycation — and actually rest

If travel is in the budget, go somewhere. Anywhere.
Beach, city, mountains, Europe, your friend’s couch — it all counts.

If travel isn’t realistic, plan a staycation with intention:

• Sleep in
• Go on long walks
• Read for fun
• Try new workout classes
• Romanticize your mornings (make that fancy coffee or matcha at home!)

This might be the last stretch of unstructured time you’ll have for a while, so give yourself permission to rest before life gets busy again. Rest is productive — especially before a career that asks a lot of you emotionally and mentally. (This advice is coming from someone who still struggles with ‘rest’, so I get it).

2. Build a weekly routine before work starts

One of the hardest parts of starting a new job isn’t the medicine — it’s figuring out how life fits around work.

Use this time to create a realistic weekly routine, including:

• Gym or mindful movement
• Meal prep
• Laundry and chores
• Grocery runs
• Social time
• Alone time

Test it out for a few weeks and see what actually works for you.
When your job starts, you’ll already have a baseline routine instead of trying to build one while exhausted.

Pro tip: Don’t aim for perfection. Aim for repeatable.

3. Choose 3–5 go-to meals for decision-fatigue weeks

There will be weeks where the thought of deciding what to eat feels like too much.

Do your future self a favor and pick 3–5 meals that:

• Take less than 30 minutes
• Use minimal ingredients
• You genuinely enjoy

Examples of my go to’s:

• Sheet pan chicken sausage + veggies
• Protein pasta (I love Banza) with jarred sauce + protein + a bag of spinach (you can add blended cottage cheese for a creamy higher protein option)
• Taco bowls (I usually opt for rice or sweet potatoes, ground turkey with taco seasoning + chopped green chilis for a kick, and sauteed veg like zucchini)
• Big salads with rotisserie chicken/lightly breaded chicken nuggets

Keep these meals on rotation. When decision fatigue hits (and it will), you’ll already have the supplies on hand or after a <10 min grocery run.

4. Write out smart phrases for common patient counseling

Primary care = repetition.
Hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, lifestyle counseling — you’ll say the same things a lot.

Use this time to write smart phrases or shortcuts in your own words for:

• Hypertension education
• Diabetes basics
• Lifestyle modifications
• Medication counseling
• Preventive care reminders

When you’re in clinic, this saves time, mental energy, and charting stress. It also helps your counseling sound consistent and confident — because it already sounds like you.

5. Find hobbies that have nothing to do with medicine

You are more than your job — even if medicine sometimes tries to convince you otherwise.

Before work starts, explore hobbies that help you decompress outside of healthcare:

• Working out
• Reading
• Cooking or baking
• Creative projects
• Thrifting (I help run a vintage clothing market!)
• Gardening
• Travel planning (Especially if you can do so with friends!)
• Writing (👀)
• Live music/raving (this is my fav!)

These become anchors when work feels heavy. Having something to look forward to after clinic makes all the difference.

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Final thoughts

Starting your first job in primary care is exciting, meaningful, and demanding.
This in-between time is your chance to set foundations — not just professionally, but personally.

Rest now. Build systems now.
Your future self (the one answering inbox messages at 6pm) will be very grateful.

Good luck, and go REST!