We walk and have our being upon a world in a continuous balancing act. Every part of it seeks to exist in the utmost respect for the natural laws and principles – gravity, cause-and-effect, for example. Thus, whatever changes may occur within this world of ours remain subject to said laws. Balance. Many a word spoken and written over the ages, by sages and learned men, bespeak balance – first within ourselves and then without, in a world we call ours.
Life as a medical student can be really hectic. I personally do not find it easy. The hullabaloo, the rigour, just kills me but as always I try as much as possible to even out the odds. There is this notion, or better still, stigma, that medical students are geeks and an ever-so-serious type of undergraduates in universities. They are the bookworms with no social life; the lonely hearts and the pitiful souls. This stereotype is all the more painful because it carries with it, elements of truth. But as far as I am concerned, the life we lead, or should lead, as medics should be one every person envies and wants to make for themselves. It is not such a big deal, what we do, that we should let family, friends, our talents and/or other aspects of ourselves suffer a costly dearth of attention. The sooner we learn this, the better and easier we take things.
How really then do we create this balance in medical school? First and foremost, get firmly established in school work. Know the rules of the game, even though you may not be a bureaucrat like me, and play well your part, allowing yourself to grow, to learn, to be a good doctor. Set your priorities straight and establish a good rapport with your colleagues: it is they whom you will have to trust to have your back, in class, in the theatre, elsewhere. However, as has been hinted earlier, being a nerd and ‘Jack of all books, Master of all’ may serve its purpose but it does not make for an ideal situation. Life is like a buffet – an all-you-can-have – and while it would be unwise to jump from one food station to the other in a frenzy, it pays to explore more than one flavour, to discover new flavours by mixing up what has been put before you.
Meet new people; if it be your wont, take a chance on that friend who could be so much more, whose smile lights up your day, and relish every moment spent with that person like it would be your last. Always remember, you lose a hundred percent of the chances you do not take. Go out with friends, do not be a recluse! See a good movie every once in a while; attend concerts; do what sane socially-oriented people do.
Read books outside the medical scope, like history and adventure, and be not always about physiological or anatomical parameters; have a varied diet. Be daring; break open, even though the stakes may be too high. Being a medical student does not mean we have to dedicate the entirety of our lives to books and miss out on all the fun our peers afford themselves. You have got to find the balance in medical school.
As I said earlier everything is about balance; for a see-saw would not achieve equilibrium to be what it is if the principle of moments were not brought into consideration. It would be prudent to halt the flow of ink here and I hope I have not been glib. So, my dear medics, balance it!
Written by Lamina Ifeoluwa a medical student at Olabisi Onabanjo University
Nice. All is about finding a balance.