Joy in Family Medicine – Stories & Reflections
Lessons, lightbulb moments, and honest reflections from life inside and outside medicine - served with a side of perspective.
Tags: stewardship
Showing 6 results:
The Emerging Choice: Staying for the Long Game or Moving On Gracefully
And just like that, it’s 2026!
The perfect time for the final piece in a five-part series exploring what helps when you care deeply about something, your influence no longer influences, and meaningful change seems unlikely.
Over the past several weeks, I’ve shared a few different approaches to ha...
by Dr. Tonya Caylor —
Jan 09, 2026
abundance
academia
agency
alignment
calling
choice
clarity
coaching
commitment
completion
culture
departure
discernment
equanimity
fulfillment
hope
identity
influence
integrity
leadership
legacy
maturity
meaning
medicine
ownership
patience
physicians
purpose
renewal
resilience
scarcity
stewardship
sustainability
systems
timing
transition
values
wellbeing
wisdom
When Influence Stops Working: Acceptance Without Endorsement
This is Part 3 of a 5-part series exploring what helps when influence has stopped working. Nothing moves. No matter how much skill, strategy, data, coalition-building, or heart you bring. And it’s something you care deeply about.
Earlier pieces focused on redefining success and navigating constra...
by Dr. Tonya Caylor —
Jan 09, 2026
academia
acceptance
adaptation
agency
alignment
boundaries
bureaucracy
burnout
clarity
coaching
constraint
control
detachment
discernment
dynamics
dysfunction
emotionality
endorsement
energy
equanimity
expectations
frustration
influence
leadership
letting go
maturity
medicine
ownership
predictability
prioritization
reafctivity
reality
regulation
resilience
sobriety
stewardship
sustainability
systems
tolerance
wisdom
The Farmer's Table: Rethinking Stewardship in Medicine
When we talk about stewardship in medicine, it usually means handling precious resources wisely:
Blood bank stewardship (don’t squander that O-negative so it’s there in a crisis)
Antibiotic stewardship (use the narrowest spectrum possible, so we don’t fuel resistance)
Resource stewardship (choo...
by Dr. Tonya Caylor —
Sep 12, 2025
balance
boundaries
burnout
care
clinic
costs
efficiency
generosity
inboxes
listening
medicine
notes
patients
reflection
resources
shortages
stewardship
strain
sustainability
time
tradeoffs
well-being
workforce
The Award Not Won: Story and Reflection
It’s that season again. Graduation programs. Thank-you speeches. Awards. A flurry of new titles, public praise, and quiet appreciation.
We do this because it matters. Recognition is powerful. Appreciation even more so. But in the messiness of human systems, it doesn’t always land how we intend.
I...
by Dr. Tonya Caylor —
Jun 27, 2025
acknowledgment
alignment
appreciation
authenticity
belonging
care
celebration
community
compassion
connection
contribution
encouragement
equity
gratitude
humanity
humility
impact
inclusion
integrity
leadership
mentorship
mindfulness
presence
process
purpose
recognition
reflection
service
stewardship
support
systems
values
visibility
well-being
Story and Reflection: Foundations First
You know my husband and I have taken on quite a few renovation projects over the years. Back in medical school and residency, we bought an old historic home in a neighborhood filled with beautifully restored houses. Of course, we could only afford the fixer-upper.
It was built on piers and had pl...
by Dr. Tonya Caylor —
Jun 12, 2025
baton passing
capacity building
collaboration
collective effort
enduring value
faith in action
foundation
generativity
groundwork
infrastructure
intentional design
investment
legacy
long view
mission aligned
patience
perseverance
purpose driven
ripple impact
rootedness
servant leadership
slow growth
stewardship
structural integrity
systems building
unseen labor
vision
Reflection: Passing it On
This past week, I had the great honor of sitting in a (virtual) room with five individuals who have dedicated decades of their careers to leadership in graduate medical education (GME).
The idea for this gathering started one morning when I woke up thinking about how tough leading in GME can be. ...
by Dr. Tonya Caylor —
Jun 12, 2025
collaborative growth
collective wisdom
community
connection
cultivation
honoring
humility
impact
influence
inspiration
intergenerational learning
knowledge transfer
leadership
legacy
longevity
meaning making
mentorship
reflective practice
ripple effect
slow leadership
stewardship
storytelling
transparency
vision casting
vulnerability
wisdom
Joy in Family Medicine – Stories & Reflections