May you live every day of your life. -Jonathan Swift
Never explain. Your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe it anyway. -Elbert Hubbard, A Thousand and One Epigrams, 1911
Don't compromise yourself. You're all you've got. -Janis Joplin
Speak what you think to-day in words as hard as cannon-balls and to-tomorrow speak what to-morrow
thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. -Ralph Waldo Emerson
This post is as much for me as it is for friends I know who are going through rough times. We all face tough patches in our life and even though I'm only 23, and haven't experienced all life has to offer, we all go through times when we feel like all is lost. Tough times occur in all facets of our lives, our education, financial status, relationships and emotions just to name a few. There comes a time in our life where self doubt is always on our minds.
" Am I doing the right thing? " " I don't think I am cut out for this." " This situation is just too hard." " I'm fed up with this situation." " F**k this."
Those are just some of the things we ask/tell ourselves in times when we just can't see the silver lining. Or at least thats what I tell myself sometimes.
I know some of my friends, including myself, are going through a season where we feel like we might have made a wrong decision in choosing medicine, that its too hard and we're too stupid. I like to think that I'm a glass-is-half-full kind of person and that another way of looking at it is this:
Medicine is difficult, and if it were easy, there would be loads and loads of doctors roaming the streets. Its precisely because its not, that doctors are respected. Following that line of argument, it means that it is perfectly acceptable that we feel there is too much for us to handle. Because of the complexities and evolving nature of medicine, I think its perfectly ok for us to feel stupid and inadequate. In fact, I'd argue that there is no better time to do so; while we are still students. Rather than curl ourselves up in a ball, we should look at it another way, that while we are more than halfway there, we still have to continuously strive for excellence, to constantly push ourselves to work harder in order to be the person we have always envisioned ourselves to be.
To accomplish something meaningful in life you need self-sacrifice and perseverance. Easy tasks are a waste of time. - me
I'm probably not as inspirational as I sound in my head, but I hope you get the drift. No matter what you are going through, times of self doubt, depression or times of hopelessness, keep your chin up. And for all my friends who read chinese:
As I mentioned before, this post is as much for me as for others who might feel the same way. I do hope that we'll continue to work towards our goal and just I know that we'll look back someday and be proud of what we've achieved.
Well.. for those who've been following my blog... its quite obvious that I've given up on the weight loss project. I'm in medicine rotation now.. its really quite hectic, I'm walking at speeds that would put professional speed walkers to shame, and 'lunchtime' is now any time when you're not running in between patients. Typically, its any time between dawn and dusk. Don't get me wrong, I like the internal med rotation, it makes me feel like I'm finally getting somewhere, that all the time I've spent studying drugs and diseases will finally be put to use, and its really nice to be able to talk to patients and reassure them and try to make their stay in hospital that much more bearable. Plus, all the running to different wards and the short lunch times help to keep the weight off :)
Another interesting piece of news which Sarah pointed out to me. Its a little small, but click on the picture for a larger view. Its a Malaysian medical resources website, and apparently my blog has been added to the student blogroll. I have no idea how they found out about my blog, I figure someone must have told them. I guess I should be more careful about what I say on my blog. My future boss could be reading! Guess that means I need to be more professional and have standards befitting a future doctor, no more posts about gambling and getting drunk :p
