New perspectives
Being a student all my life felt like forever, especially towards the end of medical school. Starting residency has brought a change in my life. Spending 11 hours a day on average, 6 days a week in the hospital, has really made me reconsider the way I view life. The luxuries I had before- personal time- is just not there anymore. The time for reflection, analysis of almost everything in life just doesn't exist anymore. It's more about waking up, filling myself up with as much taylor ham and whole wheat toast I can gobble down my throat, filling my cup with keurig coffee, and off to work. My whole day revolves around patients and everything I'm going to do from them the second they come into the door and out. Soon before I know it, it's late afternoon and time to take off for home.
Home- a nice place for quiet and peace. I always underestimated how wonderful it is to live in a beautiful, safe, and quiet place. It used to be more about being and living in the middle of everything, filling life with excitement from left to right. As wonderful as those things were, it's nice to come home to solitude. It used to be about exploring, now it's more about survival and comfort. And what happens at night? Loads of sleep, chilling with my sister Karen, and lots of dinner dates with girlfriends and shoving cake down my throat.
In short, I love it just as much as the adventurous, idealistic and Romantic life I lived before. Yes, I do feel shoved into the harshness of reality, but I do feel like I am learning a lot and it's incredibly exciting to be in medicine. I've become somewhat even more isolated than I already have, but I don't feel that my friends and family are any further than they were when I was a fourth year medical student. Those who love you and whom you love will find you somehow, whether it's through simple gestures like text, email, or really going out of your way to see them in person. Less time also means less garbage, as in my case. I could say things get frustrating, but I can never complain how fortunate or lucky I am to be where I am, doing what I do, and being surrounded by the most incredible people.
Being a student all my life felt like forever, especially towards the end of medical school. Starting residency has brought a change in my life. Spending 11 hours a day on average, 6 days a week in the hospital, has really made me reconsider the way I view life. The luxuries I had before- personal time- is just not there anymore. The time for reflection, analysis of almost everything in life just doesn't exist anymore. It's more about waking up, filling myself up with as much taylor ham and whole wheat toast I can gobble down my throat, filling my cup with keurig coffee, and off to work. My whole day revolves around patients and everything I'm going to do from them the second they come into the door and out. Soon before I know it, it's late afternoon and time to take off for home.
Home- a nice place for quiet and peace. I always underestimated how wonderful it is to live in a beautiful, safe, and quiet place. It used to be more about being and living in the middle of everything, filling life with excitement from left to right. As wonderful as those things were, it's nice to come home to solitude. It used to be about exploring, now it's more about survival and comfort. And what happens at night? Loads of sleep, chilling with my sister Karen, and lots of dinner dates with girlfriends and shoving cake down my throat.
In short, I love it just as much as the adventurous, idealistic and Romantic life I lived before. Yes, I do feel shoved into the harshness of reality, but I do feel like I am learning a lot and it's incredibly exciting to be in medicine. I've become somewhat even more isolated than I already have, but I don't feel that my friends and family are any further than they were when I was a fourth year medical student. Those who love you and whom you love will find you somehow, whether it's through simple gestures like text, email, or really going out of your way to see them in person. Less time also means less garbage, as in my case. I could say things get frustrating, but I can never complain how fortunate or lucky I am to be where I am, doing what I do, and being surrounded by the most incredible people.
