Why medicine?

OLD POST THAT GOT DELETED! ENJOY :)

Hey beautiful people!

Every morning, I get so excited to blog... it just makes me so happy! I'm so glad that I found this way to share my thoughts with everyone else. It kind of makes me feel a little more grown up, if you will.

For today's topic I figured I'd write a little more relaxing entry, so I'm doing a lifestyle piece called "why medicine?"

If you guys read my last post, you probably know that I debated on doing this post because I thought it might alienate those of you that come here for a bit of inspiration or a dose of happiness. Hopefully, you can forgive me for this little mishap because I really feel inspired to do this piece. Without further ado, let's begin!

When I was a little kid, I shuffled around career options a lot (just like all other little kids). For a while, I wanted to be an animal biologist or primatologist like Jane Goodall, but that soon changed into becoming a veterinarian and then soon after that the president (I can see you rolling your eyes).

I eventually decided that medicine is what I wanted to do when I was about 11 or 12. Most people can pinpoint a specific moment or anecdote that pushed them into medicine, but not me. I just remember waking up one morning and thinking that I needed to become a doctor and I haven't really questioned it ever since.

Another question I get so often (it's kind of ridiculous) is if my parents have pressured me into doing medicine. My answer? A flat out NO. Although my parents are incredibly supportive and will finance whatever aspiration I have, I'm not even kidding you when I say that they sighed a little bit when I told them that I wanted to be a doctor. They're both in the software world and they think I should go to my local university, which is renowned for its computer science program. I took comp sci for a year at high school, and it literally made me want to throw up. I did terribly and wouldn't recommend that class on anyone.

So back  to the 'why medicine' aspect of this post... I guess I don't have just one answer to it. In fact, I made kind of a list on why I want to become a doctor.

1. Doctors are useful in all situations, not just the clinic. I think one of the most appealing things about medicine to me is that knowing medicine just instantly makes you more useful. Let's say that you're on a plane, and a very pregnant lady starts to go into labor. If you're a doctor on that plane, you can immediately jump in and help her deliver and coach her through the process. Yeah, the situation is a bit of a stretch, but the principle applies in all situations, I think. By knowing what you need to know to become a doctor, you have learned a skill that's useful in a lot of crises.
2. The world will never not need doctors. Another appealing factor to me is the job security that being a doctor brings on. I mean, come on. Will people ever stop getting sick/having heart attacks/giving birth? No. Being a doctor is always relevant and like my grandma says, there can never be too many doctors in the world.
3. You can make a real, tangible difference in the world. People say that doctors are used to death because of all of the patients they have that don't make it, but I think that the reverse of that is also applicable. Imagine all of the joys that doctors see! Patients on the brink of death fight off their illness and becoming healthy again. Cute babies being born! Ok, this might be a bit cheesy, but I think doctors get to see both sides of life and I think that's kind of transfixing. Knowing that you have saved someone's life, that you've really impacted the world's happiness quotient is priceless to me.

Although I could go on for days about why I think healthcare professions are fantastic, I think I'll cap it at this for now. The only drawback that I see for medicine is that it takes so long to become a doctor; your career usually only begins in your thirties. But, I don't really find this too much of a problem because in your residency and last two years of med school, you get to see a lot of patients and are their doctor more or less. 

Another thing: I realize that whenever I'm blogging it's largely to an empty audience. If there's any one of you out there that actually follows my blog, I really appreciate it! The only reason why I haven't advertised my blog in any way yet is because I'm still wary about the internet... I hope you guys understand.

Anyways, have a great day and I'll see you really soon!

Mal