Jeremy Paradice during the graduation ceremony for his doctorate degree in internal medicine.

MOULTRIE — Pioneering American psychologist and educator Stanley Hall once said, “Man is largely a creature of habit, and many of his activities are more or less automatic reflexes from the stimuli of his environment.”

Colquitt County resident Jeremy Paradice went against this idea when he decided to drastically change his career in his late 30s by going back to college to pursue a doctorate degree in internal medicine.

“I graduated May 2023,” said Paradice. “On July 1, I started at Atrium Health Navicent in the internal medical residency program.”

Atrium Health in Macon has more than 750 beds with some of the more sought-after programs.

“I already knew where I would complete my residency,” said Paradice. “It was part of my undergrad program at Mercer University. It was nice because I didn’t need to spend any energy on finding one like I was seeing others do.”

After completing a four-year degree course in biology with an emphasis on premed in just 2 1/2 years, Paradice had been accepted into a three-year accelerated program at Mercer University where they supplied the residency after graduation.

Mercer’s accelerated program would allow Paradice to graduate with his M.D. degree one year early.

“I had been accepted to a couple places, but I chose Mercer because of the accelerated program,” said Paradice. “After the first semester I had made excellent grades and applied to the program. I had to interview with one of Mercer’s affiliated residency programs.”

Once Paradice received his acceptance, he knew that meant things would really intensify until that diploma touched his hands.

“The difference with the three-year program is once you get accepted there are no breaks,” said Paradice. “It’s really challenging to do the program that way. When there are big tests you don’t have the same study time for. Only a couple weeks versus six. It’s very fast.”

What was Paradice’s tactic for dealing with year round medical classes and exams?

“I used the same principles as with wrestling,” said Paradice. “What you get out of wrestling is the amount of effort and hard work you put in. So, that’s what I did. I academically competed.”

Paradice wrestled through the collegiate level and eventually went on to coach.

“I had opened a little gym and started coaching wrestling in Moultrie,” said Paradice. “My oldest, when he was around 13, has just placed third in the USA state. Both him and my youngest were competing and they came to me saying they were ready for me to coach them.”

For the first handful of years his boys wrestled, Paradice was on the sidelines.

“I tried to coach my kids when they were younger, but they said no,” said Paradice. “They really liked that I was just dad. So, I made them ask me again before I started coaching them.”

After he was convinced, Paradice moved forward with opening the club.

“It’s difficult to coach only two kids,” said Paradice. “You have to have more people. It grew pretty quick.”

So, with a growing wrestling club and happy family, what inspired Paradice to make this gigantic career shift?

“I had a construction business where I was painting houses and working on odds and ends as well as a rental business where I was buying and renting houses out,” Paradice said. “Well, my youngest son came up to me and said, ‘Dad, I wanna be like you when I grow up. I want to be a businessman because I hate school and don’t want to go to college.’”

This declaration didn’t sit right with Paradice.

“I knew then that I had to set a better example,” he said. “I felt like I was sandbagging in life and could do more as a man. The only way to lead these kids to be their best was for them to see me chasing down a dream that I had as a young man that I had abandoned after having a family at a young age. I had to do what I needed to support them.”

Paradice’s children weren’t the only ones he was thinking about.

“With the wrestling club I had about 15 little sets of eyes looking up at me,” he said. “I wanted to be someone they were proud of, and I also wanted to be proud of myself in the mirror.”

Paradice continued to coach at the wrestling club through the majority of his medical college career, maintaining a tough schedule.

“I was crazy,” said Paradice. “I would drive back Monday, Wednesday and Sunday to coach wrestling. Then, on Fridays, as soon as I was done with school, I would close the books and it would be family time all weekend.”

Paradice, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, would also go to The Storm Wrestling Center in Perry to watch his sons practice.

During all those drives, Paradice made sure to make good use of his time.

“I would listen to lectures,” said Paradice. “That way I could still get valuable information when I had windshield time.”

Eventually, Paradice did have to set coaching aside to finish his degree.

“It wasn’t until the last year of medical school when I had clinical rotation that I was not able to drive back and forth to Moultrie,” said Paradice. “It was tough to tell all those south Georgia wrestlers the time had come.”

After saying his temporary goodbyes, Paradice withdrew like a turtle into its shell so he could focus on the last steps to completing his M.D.

“Through all of this the unsung hero is my wife,” said Paradice. “She has stood faithfully by me and when I was essentially like, ‘Hold my beer, I’m going to be a doctor,’ she took it upon herself to make sure the kids were all healthy, fed, transported and taken care of.”

Now that he has graduated, Paradice is completing his residency, helping coach at the Storm Wrestling Center, volunteering for Teen Georgia Wrestling and spending more quality time with his family.

“I worked so hard and bet on myself,” said Paradice. “Doesn’t matter what you go through. You can make the decision to put in the work and be the person you are proud of.”

Paradice attributes his success to his children.

“Really, the work ethic of my children let me know that I could do it,” he said. “I tell people frequently that my oldest son is already a better man than I was at his age and a harder worker too.”

At the end of the day, Paradice is ecstatic to have reached his childhood goal, but he also hopes his journey can inspire others.

“That’s what I want my life to do,” said Paradice. “Positive influence.”