Why do people assume I am no longer premed because it’s too hard? When I say “I can’t do it anymore” that doesn’t mean I don’t have the mental capacity…my academic history shows more than enough evidence of my capability to go to Med School.
Why don’t people understand that theres more to ‘being a doctor’ than going to med school and making money?! There’s sickness, death and depression involved too. Blood, gore, loss. Everything that no normal person has ever had to encounter or deal with, a doctor has to confront on a daily basis. Why do people have such a flowery perception of it then? Its so damn frustrating for people to ask “why arent you premed anymore?” If I say “I don’t want to anymore, It doesn’t appeal to me anymore” the answer is always seems to be “yah its really hard and takes a long time.” WHO CARES?! Thats not what its about! Its DO-able. But the point is, people die. If you’re going into any kind of surgery, that is one thing that you should be damn ready to deal with. Any other area of healthcare, you’ll still have to worry with various types of illnesses, degenerative diseases, etc. For me, its not about the 8 long years of grueling work it would take to become a doctor. Its not about the hundreds of lives I could save, the thousands of people I could affect. For me, the thing that makes all the difference is that out of all those hudreds or thousands of people whose life could be affected, people still die. It maybe a handful, and ones that may not have had hope. Morbid view? Perhaps, but whether or not you know the person that has died, its human nature to feel the loss of the person who has died. People say you just have to learn to desensitize yourself from death…but what if that person is someone you love? You have that person’s life in your hands. So do you desenstize yourself and see this person you love just like any other patient.
I realize what I did when I decided to change my major. I had been ‘premed’ for years, and all of a sudden decided I didn’t want to do it anymore. It was a difficult decision to be sure; I’d never thought of other options. But that’s just the way life works. Things happen, your paths change. Being a doctor isn’t the only way to survive in this world. I commend those who choose the Med tracks…but it’s just not for me anymore.
Quote of the Day/Blog:
“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.”
-Lewis Carroll, novelist
One Comment
Because of television we have this “romantic” view of medicine.