Third Year's a Charm
I just came to the somewhat scary, yet strangely comforting, realization that this journal is over eight years old. Eight! That's a third of my life! Chronicled, somewhat intermittently, in these bits and bytes. I haven't really worked up the courage to sift through the oldest entries. I could make up a bunch of excuses about hating to ruminate and reflect on my adolescence, but anyone who's ever heard me talk about my high school experience (or who went to high school with me) knows that's not true. I think my teenage years were pretty good, to be perfectly honest. But to be perfectly honest, my teenage years weren't perfect, either, and I'm happy enough now that I don't have any particular interest in revisiting the past, at least for the time being.
What more is there to say, other than that I'm happy and healthy? Third year of medical school is pretty amazing; arguably one of the least stressful years I will have for the remainder of my medical career. Have I mentioned that yet? I think I'm going to be an anesthesiologist. That's right, if all goes well, I'll be a gas passer and a needle driver. I'm ostensibly doing clinical research in anesthesiology this year (that is, if the IRB ever approves my project); it wouldn't be remotely interesting to anyone else, but I think it's kind of nifty. I have a couple really great mentors, and I like my work so far, probably because it's significantly less than the 60-80 hours per week that I pulled last year. I have time to do fun things like join the Admissions Committee and the Duke IRB, write for the Student Faculty Show, get season tickets to the Broadway Series at the Durham Performing Arts Center, read the news every day, play Guitar Hero World Tour, take up kickboxing, and cook and eat... all the sorts of things that I used to do to make myself a well-rounded human being, and then some.
...
I wrote down a lot of rambling thoughts about medical school, life, and happiness, and what makes a person fulfilled, and what makes me fulfilled, but when I read it over, it almost seemed like I was discontent with something. So I deleted it. Maybe I am discontent, but I'm too content now to want to realize it just yet.
What more is there to say, other than that I'm happy and healthy? Third year of medical school is pretty amazing; arguably one of the least stressful years I will have for the remainder of my medical career. Have I mentioned that yet? I think I'm going to be an anesthesiologist. That's right, if all goes well, I'll be a gas passer and a needle driver. I'm ostensibly doing clinical research in anesthesiology this year (that is, if the IRB ever approves my project); it wouldn't be remotely interesting to anyone else, but I think it's kind of nifty. I have a couple really great mentors, and I like my work so far, probably because it's significantly less than the 60-80 hours per week that I pulled last year. I have time to do fun things like join the Admissions Committee and the Duke IRB, write for the Student Faculty Show, get season tickets to the Broadway Series at the Durham Performing Arts Center, read the news every day, play Guitar Hero World Tour, take up kickboxing, and cook and eat... all the sorts of things that I used to do to make myself a well-rounded human being, and then some.
...
I wrote down a lot of rambling thoughts about medical school, life, and happiness, and what makes a person fulfilled, and what makes me fulfilled, but when I read it over, it almost seemed like I was discontent with something. So I deleted it. Maybe I am discontent, but I'm too content now to want to realize it just yet.