I'm stopping to smell the roses-- such a cliché, right?
Most of my circle, we're all high powered, driven people. We wanted to do something that matters. Being a doctor was the obvious choice, so we studied hard to become one, and we studied hard to specialise. And once we gave it a good 10 years, we were hit in the face by a dead end. The cold, dry realisation that being a doctor isn't worth the God-complex you imagined you'd have. It's just a job, like any other employee at our age, but with a lot more working hours and much worse pay. The struggle never ends; we aren't helping struggling patients anymore, in fact, we're the ones struggling to find any patients. There's actually enough of us, we aren't precious to our country anymore, we worked hard to reach here, but the next guy to take our seat would have done just the same that what we do now.
The dream to live a life beyond normal seems bleak now. This doesn't seem to be the way to create a change anymore, it's a world full of doctor-haters and patients completely sceptical to your advice. The same people who would listen and simply believe an RMP, a relative, or a baseless article on the internet won't believe you as easily.
Ten or more years of medical education seem pointless, the decision seems misguided once we realise everything isn't what they seem to be. The 'dark underbelly' of medicine is just ugly.
Damn.
Beyond this existential crisis, I believe there lies a different way to look at this unexpected turn our lives have taken.
How many of us actually enjoy being with our patient? Do we see our knowledge and expertise come in handy at the right time to them, and appreciate ourselves for it? This appreciation isn't something we can expect from anybody else.
In today's cut-throat competition between us all, it's a given that we're all competent-- if we want to be. Our demeanour, tone, and manner of speaking is everything. The profession of a clinician has it's roots in empathy, and I genuinely believe that's the only thing that can set us apart. The way you handle a bad situation, the percentage of yourself and your feelings that you allow to get involved in your work-- these things matter.
Do you stop to smell the roses?
Do you play with the babies you deliver? Do you take a moment to assimilate the difference between before and after a patient comes to you?
Also--
Do you ask about your patients' story? Do you know their life beyond their medical history? Do you know their problem, and not just their presenting complaint? Do you let them confide in you? Do you go to work to do a more sincere job than the next person in your place would have done? Do you spend time to cross check if everything is done? Do you slow down, to learn it the right way? Do you study for the day that this Information will enrich someone else's life? Do you take the extra step to do good for someone else? Is your work, beyond work?
I guess we've reached a point of change in society, where we have no choice but to do our job for us. To go to bed at night knowing that we did something that makes us happy and nobody else. To know that we had a chance to stop to smell the roses, and they smelled absolutely wonderful.
