Medical school is hard. So hard that if I wanted to, I could think up a thousand and one obscene words to convey the level of difficulty. But for the needed benefit of being polished, I will be reining in my thoughts and none of those words will be included in the final draft of this article. Heck, if you’re reading this, it means I kept to my word and you will not be encountering any such words.
Ever notice how at any point of your academic journey regardless of how objectively difficult or easy that stage may be it always seems as though it is the most difficult task you’ll ever undertake in your life? Or how we’re told to delay gratification because the next point of our life is infinitely easier than the point which we find ourselves in, only to arrive and realise that things just keep getting tougher?
There will always be another hurdle.That is the bedrock of Medicine, or life if you will. There always will be another exam, another ungraspable concept, and each year is going to pose its own very unique array of challenges, to the extent that if you allow it other areas of your life eventually fall into a state of quiescence .You begin to miss out on your favourite series, you no longer have the time to study German like you’ve always wanted, you keep spending less time with your family, and if you are religious your piety slowly descends into obscurity.
It is easy to convince ourselves that we’re shunning these parts of our life so we can take them up later, but that would be playing catch up and as you may have already realised, this is a never ending rollercoaster; a rat race that ensures its own survival with no consideration for its runners.
What then is to be done? Do we just drop out of the race and trade off conscientiousness for hedonism? No, that would be foolish as our livelihood depends on it, but, there is hope of tipping the scales in favour of the equally important aspects of our lives, even if slightly.
Be intentional. Whatever is left to chance, is left to fate and fate is a cruel mistress.Take thirty minutes out of your week to watch an episode of your favourite sitcom. Listen to your favourite true crime podcast. Take a weekend off to go see your mom. Set reminders if you will leave nothing to chance, especially the seemingly ‘insignificant’ parts of your life.
And if you’re struggling to make heads or tails of anything you’ve read here today, here’s a quote to put everything into perspective “We conjured a glory so far away, we were blinded to the grace of everyday life. And when we got there, we discovered that purpose was but a continuation of life. Not the end, or the beginning.”
Enjoy today more, take in the air around you. Life is for the living.
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