Amy Mazza MacIntyre MD runs an outpatient practice in Bryn Mawr, PA, where she started seeing patients in 2006. She works alongside one PA and one admin. In this conversation, she talks less about the work itself and more about the habits of mind that keep her curious outside of it.
What Keeps You Curious Outside of Your Daily Routine?
I like being around people who know things I don’t. That sounds simple, but it’s harder to arrange than people think. Most of us end up in rooms with people who share our background and our opinions. I try to make a point of talking to neighbors, other parents, people at community events, anyone whose daily life looks nothing like mine. I usually walk away having learned something small and useful. Sometimes it’s a fact. More often it’s just a different way of looking at a problem I thought I already understood.
Who or What Has Shaped the Way You Approach Problems?
I don’t think I can point to one person or one book and say that’s where it came from. It’s more that I’ve paid attention to how people around me handle hard decisions, the ones in my family, in my community, in my own life, and I’ve kept what worked and dropped what didn’t. I’ve learned as much from watching someone handle a setback calmly as I have from any formal lesson. That kind of learning is slow. You don’t notice it happening until you look back and realize you think differently than you used to.
Is There a Type of Reading You Keep Coming Back To?
I lean toward memoirs and biographies, especially of people who made some kind of late turn in their life. Not dramatic reinventions, just ordinary people who changed direction after they thought their path was already set. I find that more useful than advice books. Advice books tell you what to think. A good memoir just shows you one honest version of a life, and you take from it what applies to yours.
What Is Something You Have Changed Your Mind About as You Have Gotten Older?
I used to think learning was something you did on purpose, in a class or from a book, with a clear beginning and end. Now I think most of what I’ve actually learned came sideways, from a conversation I wasn’t expecting to matter, or from watching someone handle something I was struggling with myself. I’ve stopped waiting for the formal version. I pay more attention to the ordinary moments now because I’ve noticed that’s usually where the real lesson is.
Where Do You Find Lessons Outside of Work?
Travel is a big one for me. Not the big trips, necessarily, just being somewhere unfamiliar for a few days. You notice how differently people organize their time, their meals, their conversations. It resets something in how I think about my own routines back home. I also find a lot in the Main Line community itself. Being in one place for a long stretch of years means you see people’s stories unfold slowly, and that teaches you patience in a way that nothing else quite does.
Do You Think There Is a Difference Between Being Curious and Being Informed?
Yes, and I think people mix them up. Being informed means you know a lot of facts. Being curious means you still want to ask questions even after you know a lot of facts. I’ve met people who are extremely informed and have stopped being curious, and I don’t think that’s a good place to end up. I’d rather stay a little unsure about things and keep asking than feel like I’ve arrived somewhere final.
What Do You Hope to Still Be Learning Ten Years From Now?
Honestly, I hope it’s still the small stuff. How to listen better. How to be more patient with people whose pace is different from mine. Those are not the kind of things you ever fully learn. I don’t think there’s a finish line for them, and I’ve made peace with that. I’d rather keep improving at the ordinary parts of being a person than feel like I’ve figured it all out.
Any Final Thought on This?
Just that I don’t think learning has to look impressive to count. Most of what has shaped me didn’t happen in a classroom or a seminar. It happened in regular conversations, regular weeks, regular years in the same community. I think people undervalue that kind of learning because it’s quiet. I don’t.