We were lucky to catch up with Zarya Rubin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Zarya, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

I was finishing decades of advanced medical training, living in New York City, and outwardly, extremely successful by all traditional metrics. However, inside, I was deeply unhappy and suffering from severe burnout, I didn’t have the words or language to describe what I was going through, I just knew something needed to change. One night, I got a life-changing phone call that my best friend’s husband had passed away suddenly. This was the literal wake-up call that I needed to make the extremely difficult, but necessary, decision to walk away from my medical career. I decided to choose my own health over my career, and I have never looked back. I learned that no matter how far you have gone down the wrong road – turn back. You cannot continue down a path that is not aligned with your true self, your true passions and desires. If it’s making you physically and mentally ill, it’s not the right career for you and you need to make a change.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Dr. Zarya is a transformational wellness expert and motivational speaker who helps high-achieving women in midlife overcome chronic stress and burnout.
As a physician who has personally navigated the challenges of burnout and life transitions, she brings both professional expertise and authentic understanding to her work.

A Harvard graduate with over 25 years of medical experience and a TEDx talk under her belt, Dr. Zarya bridges the gap between conventional medicine and holistic wellbeing. She has developed a unique approach that addresses the root causes of stress-related health issues while empowering women to thrive in all aspects of their lives.

Through her transformative events, retreats, speaking engagements, and workshops, Dr. Zarya guides women to reconnect with their bodies, reset their nervous systems, and create sustainable success. Her work particularly resonates with driven professionals and mothers who find themselves overwhelmed by the demands of modern life while struggling with anxiety, exhaustion, and stress-related health challenges.

Dr. Zarya is a sought-after speaker on topics including burnout prevention, stress management, and women’s wellness. She combines her medical knowledge with practical strategies that busy women can implement immediately. Her approach has helped countless women transform their relationship with stress while achieving greater balance, health, and fulfillment.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

As a child, I was diagnosed with several severe medical illnesses and challenges. I faced the possibility of death or disability very early in life, and it created a lot of trauma and complex PTSD that I carry with me to this day. Multiple surgeries, long recoveries, I believe those experiences led me to pursue a career in medicine, and they also created a great deal of resilience. I never gave up or let chronic pain stop me from following my dreams. Almost to my own detriment. I was so determined to overcome my challenging past, to be the doctor instead of the patient, to be in control rather than powerless, that I lost sight of what my true calling was. Walking away from a conventional medical career also requires a certain amount of grit and resilience to break the mold, abandoning the traditional way of doing things to blaze a new trail.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

As a high-achieving, driven young woman, the idea that I had to work as hard as possible, no matter the impact on my physical and mental health, is definitely a lesson I had to unlearn. I also believed that the more I sacrificed my own health and wellness for others (medicine requires a LOT of self-sacrifice, sleepless nights, long hours, lack of a personal life), the happier I would become. It took me decades of self-discovery to realize that this could not be further from the truth. I had to go deep within myself, find my authentic truth and passions, and pursue those. I still wanted to help others, but I realized I could not do that if I was broken. How could I be a healer if I couldn’t heal myself? I learned to value REST, the pause, and developed my signature “Do One Thing Less” Method as a way to prevent and combat chronic stress and burnout.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.drzarya.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drzaryarubin
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/268114707221770/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drzaryarubin/
• Other: Download my free Burnout to Balance Toolkit https://drzarya.myflodesk.com/burnouttobalance

Image Credits

Images: Sarah Waters Photography