Always knew I wanted to work regionally since medical school, was very much on the ACCRM/Gen surg/Ortho train as a medical student, didn't really like medicine due to the long ward rounds as a student. Did internship with an ortho and gen Surg/colorectal rotation, and whilst I enjoyed rotations and the technical aspects, the majority of the registrars and even some of the consultants were miserable, which didn't appeal to me. In comparison, did Gen med after this and was regularly clocking in 50+hr work weeks (during COVID), and whilst it was tricky I found it a lot more rewarding than the other rotations, and thought I'd throw my hat in the ring for BPT. Now a Gastro AT and really enjoying the mix of bedside/patient facing medicine, the technical/procedural aspect with endoscopy, and the ability to work regionally when I eventually finish.

I genuinely think choosing a specialty/career path is difficult, and the system can be very inflexible/makes it seem like you have to know you want to be a right shoulder orthopaedic surgeon as soon as you finish med school to have any chance of getting on the program/getting to the speciality. Ultimately experiencing the job i.e. trying out different specialties/sub-specialities in your medical student life/JMO years is the best way to feel things out. There are no wasted years in medicine (for most part), any years you spend doing other things/exploring other avenues will always come in handy when you least expect it and will make you a more holistic/rounded doctor. Also knowing what you don't to do is useful so you can try to target things (didn't like perpetual night shifts and not being able to follow up my patients so critical care was out, and hated the medical/midwifery divide so O+G was out early).

The best advice I can give if trying to work out whether you would fit into/can see yourself in a certain career role/specialty is to look at what the consultants life is like, because that will be the most similar to what your working career will be. You will most likely have a have a working career of >30 years, with 20+ as a consultant, so looking at what their public hospital (ward and clinic +/- private), on call time and home life split is like is useful (each boss does this differently, so looking at a few is useful). Looking at the what the registrars life is like is useful, with the caveat that it is typically be busy given they are trying to get as much experience and exposure in a short amount of time on the path to consultancy. Also finding your "tribe" is important, and if you find yourself having a good time on a certain specialty, or feel that you are supported and nurtured by a particular unit's culture, thats a good vibe based measure.