Dream on....

LIVE YOUR DREAMS--- before you stop having any!

Being a Mom of three toddlers, and living in a joint family system, I have come to realize that you dream big only when you are 22.
When you have no family responsibilities and you are not tied down by complicated relationships that demand your time and attention, you should live your dreams and explore new horizons. The experiences you gain and the raw exposure to situations helps strengthen your outlook of life and make you a better person at work and at home.
From a medical point of view that translates into doing clinical rotations in a diverse variety of disciplines to help build your clinical experience. Years later even if you become some world renowned doctor in your field of specialization, your basic knowledge of medical subjects and hands-on training in different disciplines, shall help you not only in your chosen speciality, but make you a popular  all-rounder! Female patients generally like to discuss complicated gynaecolgical and obstetrical issues with female doctors even if they are just hematologists or dermatologists. That not only saves time and money in underdeveloped countries like ours but also helps address a lot of health issues that would otherwise go unnoticed. In today's world of fast streaming internet facilities, anyone can read up about the complicated details of diseases you diagnose, but to diagnose them you need skills that don't come from just reading books or articles.  Besides it helps build your self esteem and confidence when patients question you on health related problems.
Another friendly advice to myself at 22, when I was bubbling with fresh knowledge and a passion to excel, would have been to start preparing for my USMLE or PACES foreign licensing exams, even if I didn't have the intention or resources to go abroad then. Destiny can place us in the most unusual of circumstances and being prepared in advance for a change of events can prove very helpful. Besides even after your post graduation, if you contemplate about working in the US or UK even for a short period on locum without permanently settling there, a few STEPS or PACES exam can come in handy. Its better than being stuck in your career ladder at some point with no prospect of promotion due to lack of professional experience or plain saturation of career opportunities. A foreign qualification can put you ahead in your career by a mile, enough to out class your adversaries and keep up with new infusion of talent and advancements in medicine.  Although nothing is impossible, but preparing for MRCP or USMLE, after post graduation can be quite a daunting task. To go back to basic medical subjects and read what had already been revised can be quite a drain on time and money. If I had prepared for these exams while I was preparing for my graduate exams I would have been perhaps more focused in my study approach and yielded better results in both!
Now though I enjoy this God-gifted motherhood (after six years of trying to conceive), and spend the better part of the day changing diapers, cleaning up after-meal messes, and singing nursery rhymes with my precious babies, before settling in to study for my post graduate exams in the late hours of the night when they are asleep, I am aware of people who have made it through and are enjoying the fruits of success. Having taken a break from my professional career to spend time with my little kids, I know this is a decision not many career-oriented, zealous enthusiastic professionals like my former self, would have made, but one I am comfortable with now. Perhaps motherhood changes your priorities..and your dreams, or maybe you are so drop dead tired at the end of the day that you stop having any!
So my advice to all budding doctors at 22 would be to live their dreams while they can, and to be prepared for life's challenges.

courtesy: http://weheartit.com


(Post was originally conceived based on a simple question by LinkedIn Influencers to mentors :
What do you wish you had known at 22?

 Above are my personal feelings on the topic.....If I were 22).


cover photo credits: http://studio-404.com/2013/freebies/wallpaper-live-your-dreams-august-2013