Enjoying the Journey, Not Just the Destination
Starting residency comes with a lot of expectations. Developing great clinical aptitude requires constantly learning skills and techniques to deliver great patient care, for example learning and applying evidence-based medicine. Outside academia, there is the need to balance personal, family, religious and social commitments. There is also the daily emotional struggle that many of us face at the beginning of a new career; for some it’s dealing with impostor syndrome or struggles with political discord and global conflicts that can negatively affect our patients and/or community.
Oftentimes, we find ourselves overwhelmed without adequate time or energy to deal with all of the issues we face. As I have done in the past when these familiar challenges arose in my life, I encourage myself to look to the future, one week at a time, to the end of residency. Sometimes, this is protective, looking forward to the light at the end of the tunnel. Countless times, I have heard others share this same sentiment of looking forward to the end of our current struggle, often forgetting that we only finish one phase to start another.
I remember attending college classes thinking those were going to be the hardest courses. I just needed to persevere, get accepted to medical school where I would finally learn medicine — my biggest interest from as early as I could remember. Once in medical school, I could not wait to graduate and begin residency where I would finally begin to work in my specific field of choice. Now in residency, I am facing some old and new challenges. However, now I am encouraging myself to do more to confront them. I am working on a way to enjoy my today, to be present enough to learn from the current details and process of my life’s journey.
I am now more intentional about doing something I love or something meaningful daily. No longer do I wait for the weekend or the end of residency to do these things under the misguided idea that I will have more time then. Now, I am wiser that the future holds a lot of exciting opportunities and responsibilities that will also come with their own challenges.
In the midst of a daily struggle for equity and overcoming bias — be it racial, gender, national or age-based — I am learning to enjoy every conversation as a chance to make a difference and engage in meaningful conversations. I see every encounter as a chance to share and listen to others, every positive connection becoming a small victory.
Living this way keeps me joyful and able to take full advantage of these moments, and learn through adversity and stress. I now face tasks with the belief that I have the strength, knowledge and capacity, or, at the very least, the resources to galvanize what I need to complete the task. I am finally learning to enjoy every journey that takes me to a new end, and another new beginning.