Prepared vs. Ready: What Dr. Cindy Dafashy’s DPC Story Reveals About Timing
- Maryal Concepcion
- 6 hours ago
- 2 min read
There’s a moment many physicians recognize but rarely name.
You’re clinically prepared. You’ve done the training. You know the medicine.And yet, something still doesn’t feel settled.
In this January Reset conversation, Dr. Cindy Dafashy gives language to that in-between space, the gap between being prepared and actually feeling ready.
Dr. Dafashy opened her direct primary care practice directly out of residency. On paper, that sounds bold. But what makes her story resonate isn’t the speed of her decision, it’s her clarity about what didn’t feel right inside traditional systems.
She talks openly about learning medicine inside a culture that speaks primarily to other physicians. Medical language. Medical incentives. Medical priorities. And then facing the reality that patients don’t live inside that culture at all.
What changed for her wasn’t confidence in her clinical ability. It was learning to translate care out of “medicalese” and into something patients could actually understand and trust. That shift — from physician-centered thinking to patient-centered communication — mirrors one of the core reflections in the January worksheet: Where does misalignment show up even when you’re doing everything correctly?
Dr. Dafashy also names something many early-career physicians struggle with quietly: the fear of not being “ready enough” for the non-clinical parts of medicine. Explaining your model. Setting boundaries. Protecting your energy before burnout takes hold.
Her story reminds us that readiness isn’t about mastering everything first. It’s about noticing when the way you’re being asked to practice no longer matches your values and choosing to respond intentionally.
As you reflect on her story, consider this question from the January worksheet:
Where in your practice do you feel prepared, but not yet aligned?
You don’t need to answer it all at once. Clarity comes in layers.
If you haven’t yet, you can download the free January reflection worksheet, Is DPC Right for You?, and use it as a companion to this episode and blog.
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