Not Food #1: A Good Day

I don't know what this post will be about food wise, but I just wanted a space to write down some wise words I got yesterday at my white coat ceremony before I forget them. Orientation and these things tend to be filled with cheese and iterations of the same theme, but I think underneath all of that, certain phrases can stick.

So to have a good day, here are the three parts you need:
1) Learn Something
2) Have Fun
3) Do Some Kindness

I'm not super sentimental (if you couldn't tell by the intense bitterness that plagues my stream of consciousness), but I feel like having chosen to do an MD/PhD program, I get to do ALL of that. And its pretty amazing to think of how lucky it is that I am basically doing exactly what I want to do in life right now. Sure, its going to be really really hard down the line (aka in three days), and I have serious fears and dread about studying, doing well on standardized tests, asking the right research questions, publishing, getting grants. I've been so privileged to have the opportunities and access to probably something akin to the 1% of academia. There are so many things just not even within my control- being born in the US, living in great neighborhoods, parents with stable jobs and financial means, that a lot of people way way smarter and more deserving than me just don't have. Hard work is certainly one aspect, but also just being at the right place at the right time.

I'm not going to dwell too much on the sense of "do I deserve to be here" (I'll do that later), but I'm here, and ready, and its good to just move forward. Because the second piece of advice I've gotten this past year that has stuck is the idea that "no decision you make is ever a mistake." It's the decision you make, it's not good or bad, and its the one you've chosen to make the most out of. All in all, I think the choices I have made up to now allow me to fairly easily do all three things needed for a good day most of the time. Which is frankly, pretty awesome.

-end cheese-