For all the medical students who are struggling right now.
You deserve all those sleepless nights and that second cup of coffee. You deserve to be having a hard time, to be struggling your way through every single day, because there’s no other way to make you realize how much you want your dreams to come true.
A dream to selflessly serve for a greater part of humanity, a higher purpose. You need to get up and show up in life, plant the seeds, and take the action necessary to achieve the result. Have the vision to see the desired life in front of you. Take another step to shoot higher, break down the wall of limitations, and dream of the ultimate life. Take your desires, put those desires on steroids, and have the courage to see bigger than you can imagine!
There are moments where you question yourself, ask why you didn’t just go the easier path. Sometimes you even blame other people for the hardships that you are encountering, pointing fingers, forgetting that you wouldn’t be where you are without them.
Sometimes it gets to a point where you just want to give everything up.
But even with all those challenges, you have to remind yourself that you deserve to be struggling because it reminds you to want it more.
Our greatest fear is if our dream isn’t for us. It is hard. But you also have to realize that it is okay to complain from time to time, to cry and breakdown.
You have to remember to be human.
Although it is easier to let your emotions eat you up, always remember that you have to do it; you have to get up and finish that biochemistry to understand the catalysis of those different molecules, or to continue to study that last page of your anatomy book so you can correctly diagnose patients and save lives, or maybe, you have to stay up not only for yourself, but for everyone else so that the future will be brighter.
You have to keep in mind that you are where you are not only because of a dream or the desire to change the world, but also because of the struggle of other people to help you reach your goal.
You are not alone in your journey to finishing your degree, so remember to thank everyone else who continuously pushes you to fight and believe.
Remember that you are struggling because you have to, that nothing good comes easy, and as cliché as it may be, remember that the fire that melts butter is the same fire that hardens steel.
As human beings, we have a tendency to look at ourselves through the wrong kind of lens. We create perceptions of who we are, and what we have to offer, based on a vision of ourselves that is often centered around our faults.
Far too often I hear someone refer to themselves as not being “good enough” for medical school. This always confuses, and deeply saddens me, because I unconditionally believe that we are all good enough for anything we choose and put our minds to, and there is only one reason why.
You are good enough because you house within yourself a heart that beats deeply and feels without question. You are good enough because that beating heart gives you the ability to fight for the things you want in this life in the most profound way. That is all that matters. Your past does not matter, your faults do not matter — the only thing that matters is that you have a heart, that grit that got you here in the first place.
The next time you allow for your mistakes, your weaknesses to govern how purposeful you feel, remember — That all your hard work will someday pay off. You are smart. Every time you read a line again and again because you try to understand it. I see it every time you fail because you don’t cheat yourself out of it — you want to learn things the best way, not only for yourself but for your future patients. And that in itself is an essence of a true genius. Please start trusting yourself because someday, people will come knocking on your door because they trust you with their lives. Don’t give up. You didn’t come this far just to get the hell out of it. Nothing is as huge as the times your heart started to cave in because you craved for this dream.
Not all the stars in the night sky are dead. They say that stars can live up to million years. So maybe when you look up the sky, you see stars that have seen more than the years you have lived. They have seen many people who don’t walk on this earth anymore. And now they are going to see you live. Let these stars be your dream that despite the many times the universe might have failed them — they still shine. But then again, I know you. And you will in some way find another loophole. So I’ll stay ahead of you and recall that you did say that not all things that shine are alive. But you’re a doctor remember? Save them.
