After Hours with Zach Bautista

I’ve always been fascinated by what we choose to do outside of our jobs.

For much of my life, I was many things before I was a designer. I was a social work major, worked in film casting, and was an executive assistant, all before realizing that what I really loved was graphic design.

In some ways, Substack feels like another version of that. A place to moonlight. To try things out. To think through what I love outside of my job. I’m endlessly fascinated by people’s interests beyond their chosen careers. I love reading other Substacks and watching what they care about come to life.

A few months ago, I came across Zach Bautista’s letter, Somewhere To Land. In it, he explores his love of interiors, woodworking, gardening, and travel, while working in the ER by day.

I was curious how he found his way to Substack, how he ended up in medicine, how his interests outside of work developed, and what his work has taught him.

He was kind enough to sit down with me to talk about all of it and confirmed in the process that The Pitt is the closest TV show to the real ER.

I loved our conversation. I hope you enjoy it.

Zach: I was born in Tallahassee, Florida, but I say my hometown is Panama City. Small beach town. Pretty conservative. Classic Southern town.

My mom and her whole side of the family are from there and still live there. I grew up going to the beach, playing sports, going to school. Then I went to undergrad at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

Zach: No. I actually wanted to major in photography. In high school I was doing photography for friends and family. Senior portraits, a couple weddings. I wanted to lean into that.

But both my parents are in medicine. My mom is a nurse practitioner. My dad is a pharmacist. They were fine with photography, but my mom was clear. Do photography on the side, but you need something stable and reliable.

So I got a bachelor’s in psychology and applied to PA school. I’ve been working in Gainesville in the ER since 2019.

I swore I didn’t want to work in the hospital. I thought I’d work in a clinic. Something more predictable.

But a job opened in the ER. Three shifts a week was appealing. The money was better. And as a PA, we’re broadly educated in all specialties, so starting somewhere broad made sense.

Now I can’t imagine working five days a week. The schedule gives me a lot of flexibility. I can pretty easily travel for a week without having to take time off. It’s a pretty great setup as far as that goes.

Zach: Home is really my solace. When I walk in, I put music on, light incense, pet my cats. It’s grounding.

I also have incredible friends, family, and a partner who is deeply supportive. I always have someone I can call to vent or just share things with. And I’m close with a lot of my coworkers. What we do isn’t something most people fully understand unless they’re in it, so we lean on each other. We spend holidays, nights, and weekends together. You lose patients together. That bonds you quickly.

But you have to leave it at work. You can’t take it all home. It will destroy you if you do. I tell new hires that all the time. Some things will stick with you because you’re human, but you can’t let it consume you.

Zach: I'm happiest spending the day with my girlfriend. She lives in Copenhagen, and when I visit, we wake up and walk to breakfast. Maybe take another coffee to the park.

There’s a café called Seks. Best scrambled eggs in the world. It’s five minutes from her apartment. The music there is always on point and the staff is super sweet and the two of us will sit there for hours chatting and having the best start to a day.

Zach: There’s an Ethiopian nun, Emahoy Tsegué Maryam Guèbrou, who released a solo piano album in the 60s. When I bought my house, that was the first vinyl I purchased. I played it every morning for over a year. It’s peace for me.

And then Loyle Carner. We have almost cosmic connections. We were born the same day and the same year. Both biracial. Both with ADHD. Both love cooking. He has a nonprofit where he teaches kids with ADHD how to cook. His music has followed me for years.

He’s how I met my girlfriend. She posted about going to one of his concerts, and I messaged her because I thought no one else knows this guy. That’s how we started talking. We ended up going to his concert together in Copenhagen this past fall.

He’s been my top Spotify artist multiple years in a row.

Zach: My mom’s mom always kept her house really nice, and I think that stayed with me. But it didn’t fully click until I bought this house.

I moved in with almost nothing. A mattress delivered that night. My TV on its cardboard box. A folding table from Walmart that became my desk and dining table. It was a blank slate.

During that time, I clung to rituals. Every morning, no lights other than sunlight or candles until midday. I didn’t want much. I just needed to acclimate to what the day naturally gave me.

I do everything myself. I’m a student of YouTube. Paige Wassel and Noah Daniel are two big influences.

I started building things in college when I couldn’t find a shoe rack that fit a weird space, so I built one. That’s when I realized design is really just problem solving.

Since then I’ve built tables, bed frames, built-ins, a deck. My house is small. If I need something a certain size, I make it.

It’s not perfect. I’ve had to accept that.

Over time, I’ve learned that how you treat your space is transformational. It’s one step at a time.

The hardest part is just starting.

Zach: Probably a dining table in a previous house. We had Friendsgivings around it. Eight to ten people. So many memories.

In this house, the outdoor shower. That was pure luxury. Just wanting to shower outside under oak trees and see the birds.

Zach: My go to is a kale salad from Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden. I’ve made it hundreds of times and don’t even look at the recipe anymore. I usually grow Tuscan kale specifically for that salad. Anyone who has worked with me or come to a holiday party knows I’m bringing it.

Zinnias are my main flower because they reseed themselves and don’t need much from me. Tomatoes are probably my favorite crop.

Gardening changes every year. When I moved back to Florida, I had to relearn everything. One year I came back from vacation and cabbage loopers had eaten every leaf of my kale. Just the ribs were left.

Gardening teaches you humility. It’s the opposite of woodworking. Woodworking is control.

Gardening, you can plan perfectly. You can buy the right fertilizer, plant at the right time, do everything correctly, and then nature just decides otherwise. You get a freeze. You’re out of town. Caterpillars eat every leaf.

But eating something you grew yourself is the coolest part.

Zach: My ideal day would start at sunrise. The sunrises here are really great. With a long walk on a trail near my house where you can see gators, wild horses, even bison randomly.

Zach: I think one of my favorite places in the world is Jamaica. My stepmom is Jamaican and my dad has always loved the island, so we have been a few times. It is probably my favorite food anywhere. The beaches are stunning and there is a warmth to the place that is hard to explain.

The last time we went, we stayed in Ocho Rios near a private beach. It was not extravagant, but it was perfect. I would wake up early and read. Then I would wander in for whatever had been made that day. It felt slow in the best way.

The house had a cook, (shout out to Marlene) and everything she made was incredible. Brown stew chicken, curry, fresh fish. Jerk is very specific there. The wood and the method matter. It is not just seasoning.

One trip in high school, I gained almost ten pounds from eating. On our latest trip we bought forty mangoes when we arrived and they were gone in two days. You do not slice them. You peel them and eat them outside because they get everywhere.

It is a really happy place for me. I would redo that week in a heartbeat.

Zach: The honest answer, even if it sounds cliché, is my health.

I see people of all ages with awful diagnoses. I’ve had to tell people my age that they have cancer. When you do that often enough, you can’t pretend you’re immune to anything.

There’s not much difference between me and the person sitting in that chair getting that news.

So my health is absolutely an extravagance.

And my perspective is an extravagance.

I get constant reminders of how much of a gift it is to wake up and walk and see and hear and smell and just exist normally.

If I go a day feeling invincible, I go to work the next day and that illusion disappears.

Being able to move and think clearly. That’s everything.

Thank you so much to Zach Bautista, please go check out his amazing substack. And thank you all for reading. I’ll be back this weekend with a new letter.