Begging For a Voice of Reason

Can I share something that's gotten me a little freaked out? Starting in July I will be one of two hospitalists out of a group of ten who work full time. Eighty percent of my division will work less than full time. I just can't wrap my brain around that. It's not that I see myself as some sort of gunner who is married to her job. I don't think of myself as particularly more committed to being a physician than those who choose to spend more time at home with their families. But....I don't know what to think. Am I doing something wrong by working full time? Is there something that makes full time so much less desirable than part time that I'm missing? Did I get off track somehow? Was the path to job satisfaction supposed to be medical school --> residency --> find a husband --> work part time at the field that you love? A good friend of mine is a general pediatrician and initially worked full time but then cut back to 4 days a week a couple of years ago. She is single and has no children but felt that she was getting burned out working 5 days a week in a clinic and now loves having every Friday off. She is certainly not the only physician intent on preventing burnout and promoting life-work balance and job satisfaction. Check out this article

Here's why I'm anxious. I'm afraid of the dynamic of the group when only 2 of us are working more than everyone else. I'm afraid that I'm missing something important, some strategic career move that I'm not privy to. I'm afraid to be backed into a corner if/when I finally do get the memo that I too should be working part time and then can't. (Have you ever heard of an academic division made up entirely of part time physicians? Me neither.) I'm not judging anyone who has made the decision to work part time. I've just never pictured myself doing that. And now I'm afraid I should have.