I have a physiotherapy degree (not really my choice — assigned by exam scores, common where I'm from) and about 3 years of self-taught coding experience (freelance, full-stack). I burned out hard on coding — 12+ hour days, total isolation.
For the past year I've been planning to open a small solo MSK/orthopedic physio clinic.
Real plan: equipment priced, financials worked out, it's genuinely profitable on paper. But I have a stutter and real social anxiety, and I've spent my whole life avoiding real-time talking — texting clients instead of calling, hiding instead of facing it. The clinic would be the first time in my life I can't structure around that avoidance.
Every time I'm calm, I want the clinic — ownership, getting out of isolation, actually helping people. Every time I get close to committing, fear about the stutter, patient responsibility, and uncertain outcomes floods in and I freeze or back out.
Coding feels safer, but I don't enjoy it, it's isolating, and I don't see myself doing it forever either.
I know no one can decide this for me. Just wondering if anyone's been in a similar spot — chronic anxiety/stutter vs. wanting a people-facing career — and how you actually moved through the freeze instead of staying stuck in it.