I remember the first day I put on the uniform. Here I was, a man who worked so hard, came from meager beginnings in a foreign country, earned two advanced degrees to get to this spot and there I was, looking back at myself in the mirror. I don’t think I would have felt more pride if I was wearing a uniform for the New York Yankees or Manchester United. I was looking into the eyes of Arnel Duvet, an officer in the United States Navy, the world’s greatest Navy.
I spent two years at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina before leaving for Japan, where I served an additional three years. Despite not loving every aspect of public health, I was well-trained and had always told myself that I would first serve my country and then enter the private sector when my time was done.
Shortly before I left for Japan, while waiting for my wife and two young sons to leave with me, we discovered that one of my sons had a chronic health condition requiring surgery (or surgeries, we were told). Milande, my beautiful wife, and I knew that the best option for our son was to stay in the United States, so she decided to remain there with the boys while our youngest underwent treatment.
Then, in early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic knocked on our doors. I remember thinking that people were overdoing the hysteria in the very beginning. My wife shared with me the accounts of stores running out of toilet paper back home and schools shutting down. It wasn’t long before that seemed to be the norm around the world.
Life completely changed with COVID-19. I appreciate the once-in-a-lifetime nature of the pandemic, but between that, and not seeing my wife and children, it just felt like this was not what I signed up for. Those little issues I had with public health became wider, the virus became as much a political issue as health, and nothing could replace my family. I became the guy I never wanted to be: the one who didn’t want to get up and go to work in the morning.
I’d hit snooze two or three times. I look at the clock during the day waiting to go back to my lonely home and when I was there, I was depressed.
Thankfully, because I had some experience with life and empowerment coaches, I recognized quickly what was happening. I could have re-upped for several more years. That would have been following the script or the plan I set out for myself more than a decade ago. But I also knew based on the coaching that for me to be happy, I have to follow that little light and little voice inside me – the one I think we all have – to whatever the next adventure was going to be.
So here I am, just a couple of days before leaving the Land of the Rising Sun, one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen on Earth, and I’m ready to leave that Arnel behind. He served me well, but that version of myself is done. He has outlived his usefulness.
I enter the private sector with the calling to also help those in the medical field who are feeling similar burnout, or realize they made the wrong decision entering the healthcare industry. I think there’s a real need for Career Development Coaches who can help guide somebody to the path they should have been on from the beginning. I knew I wanted to help people, but also knew I wasn’t interested in being a doctor or nurse, so public health made sense. After talking to several people who have been in my position, looking to leave the medical world, I realize the help I’ve been wanting to provide people is that I’ve wanted to help people who felt as lost as I did in the field.
I stumbled into coaching just helping a few friends of mine with some of their employment issues and realized I had a knack for this. I took professional certification courses from Japan and will be hanging my shingle upon return to America.
This isn’t quitting. It isn’t saying I made a mistake. It’s saying that what I thought would give me a life of fulfillment isn’t going to do it and I need to move on. Imagine how much happier people would be if they could reach that conclusion… and then do something about it. Now, I’ll help people do that. As I put Public Health Arnel Duvet to rest, Career Development Coach Arnel Duvet is coming to life.
I can’t wait to live this new life. Thank you to all of you who have made my experiences in the US Navy more than I could have imagined and to the friends and family who supported me along the way. It was an honor serving in the world’s greatest Navy. I now feel like I’ve done what I was supposed to do. And I would like to leave you with this verse from Tim. 4 v7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”. Now I look forward to being with my BEAUTIFUL WIFE (can’t wait to taste that Haitian food of hers... legumes, lalo and gombo). And finally, Daddy’s coming home, boys.