Hello world! This is my first blog post and I want to once again introduce myself if you haven't already checked out the "About Me" section. I am currently an undergraduate in the last year of university before I head off to, wait for it, MEDICAL SCHOOL! Before I begin to talk in more detail about what I hope to accomplish this year and the next four years with this blog, I just want to talk about my background some more. For most prospective medical students, the desire to become a doctor is either something you decided on at a certain point in your life or you gradually came to the conclusion that you were good at nothing else. I fell into the latter category and after a whole lot of exposure to medicine through shadowing, working in an ophthalmology clinic, and first-hand advice from physicians themselves, I eventually decided why not become a doctor, right? I did everything I could possibly do to get myself that acceptance letter: volunteering, holding office in clubs, research, maintaining the best academic record I could, etc etc. I know it all sounds very generic and vague but in the interest of privacy let's just say if there was an activity or opportunity that could potentially get me into medical school, I had explored it. But what I regret most about my journey towards medical school is that I did many of these things with an end-game in mind and every single day in college I always had this monkey on my back near driving me to insanity about getting into medical school. It was the one constant thought in my mind I couldn't get rid of and it made me spend ridiculous amounts of time on academics that were completely unnecessary because I was always stressed out. Definitely not a good look and I attribute my receding hairline to that zaniness. Nevertheless, after many sleepless nights and fluctuations in weight, I got to my medical school interview for my dream school and luckily did well. The "plan" worked out and now I'm on my way to getting an MD!
So where am I now mentally, you ask? Much less stress, more relaxing, enjoying life, and not letting the little things get me down. As I prepare for the victory lap (i.e. my last semester in college) I'm also gearing up for medical school and all the inherent difficulty that lies within. Maintaining balance in school, being on top academically, retaining information, and of course becoming a great doctor! Right now, it's Winter Break so most of my time is spent sleeping, reading (currently Catch-22, highly recommended!), and redditing. I'm loving every second of it and trying to squeeze enjoyment out of every hour I have before hitting the books everyday. Next semester should be pretty hectic since I intelligently took three hard science courses so we'll see how that works out.
And before I forget, the last thing I wanted to do is explain the title of my blog! Since I decided I wanted to become a physician, I always thought of medical school as this dreamworld where everybody is happy and college was the real hell. To me, being in college was always an obstacle and I truly hated much of it because of all the self-imposed expectations I had of myself. Now, I'm enjoying it A LOT more than I ever did but am sorry that I didn't realize the stupidity of my thought-process earlier. So with that said, after many candid discussions with real medical students and reading on blogs and in books, I realized (although I knew it was hard beforehand, I always brushed the idea aside) medical school is the true test of your mettle. And since I'll be stuck in what I thought was the greatest place on Earth for four years, you have Trapped in Paradise!
Hopefully my writing gets better but until my next blog post, see you soon!
