When Medicine Works But Doesn’t Feel Whole: Lessons from Dr. Meena Julapalli
- Maryal Concepcion
- Jan 18
- 1 min read
Not all misalignment shows up as burnout.
Sometimes, medicine works. The algorithms are correct. The outcomes are acceptable.And yet, something essential feels missing.
In this January Reset conversation, Dr. Meena Julapalli speaks to a quieter kind of dissonance, the kind that emerges when care becomes technically excellent but emotionally incomplete.
Dr. Julapallis story isn’t about escaping medicine. It’s about reclaiming it.
She reflects on practicing inside systems that reward efficiency, protocols, and throughput, while leaving little room for presence, story, or healing. Over time, that imbalance created a tension not just in her work, but in how she experienced herself as a physician.
What makes her story especially resonant is that the answer wasn’t doing less medicine - it was practicing medicine differently. Creating space for time, relationship, and meaning. Allowing room for the whole human experience, including her own.
This aligns closely with the January worksheet reflections around energy, patient relationships, and sustainability. Not sustainability as endurance but sustainability as nourishment.
As you sit with Dr. Julapalli’s story, consider this question:
Where does your current version of medicine leave no room for the parts of you that matter most?
That question isn’t meant to push you toward a solution. It’s meant to help you notice what your nervous system already knows.
If you’re craving more presence, depth, or meaning in your work - without pressure to decide what comes next - the January Is DPC Right for You? worksheet offers a gentle place to begin.
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