To Keep Ones Powder Dry
Dear Ruslan,
So, something about me. People say I'm full of contradictions, but I'm not. (That was a joke.) I'm obsessed with everything medicine; I'm also obsessed with being the person I was before I started medical school. One of the most amazing and defining things I've ever done was the year I spent in Ukraine (on a Fulbright Fellowship) right before I started medical school. That year, I filled up my passport, reformed a healthcare system (sort of,) became an enemy of the state, and overthrew a government. Needless to say, I haven't managed to repeat that performance in the last four years.
I like to think I'm different from most medical students (or doctors? I'm still not used to it...) but I imagine every medical student does. In the face of losing all of the stability and security of the last four years and abandoning everything familiar to start over in a new place, I decided at some point to make my entire last year of med school into a crazy, reflective, soul-searching road trip. So - I haven't spent more than four weeks in the same place for the last year.
It's been an interesting experiment. Things that differed from my expectations:
I lost fewer things than I expected (I developed a system.)
I found more lost things than I ever could have imagined.
There were fewer epiphanies than one would predict for a soul-searching journey.
Instead of being perpetually lost, new things and places become familiar; old experiences repeat themselves in new environments, and environments become old are suddenly filled with the unfamiliar.
I guess my one lonely epiphany is the thing I feared from the beginning - I'm getting old, and its better to mend old ways than to make up new ones. But nothing is really lost.
In any case, I'm now (and just in time) ready to stay in one place and do one thing. I still feel like I was so sure and fearless when I started medical school - but there's a lot of nostalgic editorializing involved in that idea, and I was a lot more stubborn then. How does one manage to leave medical school and charge confidently in the direction of ones dreams?
Sometimes, especially in the Fall, I think everything is like football and surgery.
Anyway, soul-searching makes you selfish and tired. I'm not sure if this is an appropriate first letter to send. I always say letters are something you write to yourself while thinking of another person, but it's all I've got in the way of introduction. Anyway, people are always more reflective on buses.
Yours,
Dr. Ray
So, something about me. People say I'm full of contradictions, but I'm not. (That was a joke.) I'm obsessed with everything medicine; I'm also obsessed with being the person I was before I started medical school. One of the most amazing and defining things I've ever done was the year I spent in Ukraine (on a Fulbright Fellowship) right before I started medical school. That year, I filled up my passport, reformed a healthcare system (sort of,) became an enemy of the state, and overthrew a government. Needless to say, I haven't managed to repeat that performance in the last four years.
I like to think I'm different from most medical students (or doctors? I'm still not used to it...) but I imagine every medical student does. In the face of losing all of the stability and security of the last four years and abandoning everything familiar to start over in a new place, I decided at some point to make my entire last year of med school into a crazy, reflective, soul-searching road trip. So - I haven't spent more than four weeks in the same place for the last year.
It's been an interesting experiment. Things that differed from my expectations:
I lost fewer things than I expected (I developed a system.)
I found more lost things than I ever could have imagined.
There were fewer epiphanies than one would predict for a soul-searching journey.
Instead of being perpetually lost, new things and places become familiar; old experiences repeat themselves in new environments, and environments become old are suddenly filled with the unfamiliar.
I guess my one lonely epiphany is the thing I feared from the beginning - I'm getting old, and its better to mend old ways than to make up new ones. But nothing is really lost.
In any case, I'm now (and just in time) ready to stay in one place and do one thing. I still feel like I was so sure and fearless when I started medical school - but there's a lot of nostalgic editorializing involved in that idea, and I was a lot more stubborn then. How does one manage to leave medical school and charge confidently in the direction of ones dreams?
Sometimes, especially in the Fall, I think everything is like football and surgery.
Anyway, soul-searching makes you selfish and tired. I'm not sure if this is an appropriate first letter to send. I always say letters are something you write to yourself while thinking of another person, but it's all I've got in the way of introduction. Anyway, people are always more reflective on buses.
Yours,
Dr. Ray