Medical school is flying by quickly and I love to joke that the accelerated curriculum (which I signed up for) makes it very difficult to appreciate just how much and how quickly it is all going. Which is why I am so grateful for the season of Lent.
During Lent, I necessarily slowed down, cut down on my usage of electronic devices and began contemplating what especially matters.
For both years I have really been a practicing Catholic and celebrated Lent I have begun to reflect on the previous year and look forward for what to expect soon. Last year, I contemplated the Transcendental Principle of Truth and how it relates to Duty really looks like to produce this essay.
Now in 2023, I have come to appreciate that this last year has been dedicated to Transcendental Principle of Goodness and how it relates to the faith. I now understand that much of the Beauty of Catholicism has to do with Inversion with the least become the first. I’m still writing that essay but for this year I wanted to suggest something else.
Much like Babe Ruth calling his shot - I’ll tell you what this year is about before I pursue it. There’s a greater risk in doing so because I’ve opened up the possibility of failure - it’s a risk I’m willing to take.
This next year is really the dedicated to the Third Transcendental which is Beauty. Is it a tall order to say, I will live my life beautifully? Perhaps. But what isn’t a tall order is to suggest that this next year will focus on Refinement.
We can take a fundamental principle from medical school - the idea that telomeres are nature’s solution to cancer and apply it to understand what is beautiful. See if cells go rogue and start to replicate endlessly they become a threat to the host - that is cancer. Naturally, living beings have a limit on how many times a cell can replicate by putting a cap on the DNA. Each time the DNA replicates this telomere cap shortens.
This illustrates the idea that limiting things, saying no, and refining is what makes life possible. This is also true of beauty and expertise. For a person to dabble in a million different skills, he or she will be a novice across all of them. Only by cutting through the noise and really focusing one’s attention on a limited number of things can we become experts.
Why does this matter especially now. Well my heart is torn in a million directions - I have interests in space, medicine, and religion, and am pursuing projects in each of the fields. I have, depending on how I count it, 4-6 research projects each with different mentors all working at different paces.
As I reflect I anticipate that during a clinical year wherein I am spending almost all my time in the hospital I will run into an issue trying to maintain what I have found possible during this first year. Namely, I am acting as a “Jack of All Trades, And Master of None.” Much like a tumor who begins malignant growth in any and every direction, this is not sustainable for someone who wants a professional career that signals expertise. It will of course lead to unhappiness.
Well then, the solution is to restrict the growth. Perhaps the first treatment is to stop new growth. That is to say, with my current projects, not to add any more on. Not to start another activity and really look to finish the things sitting in my “inbox.”
This is an issue I’ve talked about before - but the all-to-common “Eyes Bigger than Stomach Syndrome” is a very common issue in medical school. Especially, as I’ve confided in my classmates, it seems for first-generation medical students.
Unlike some of our peers who are the children of double-doctor households and/or will be third or even fourth generation physicians and therefore have a sense of confidence, we have commiserated that it is difficult to say no to more opportunities.
So refinement looks like saying no to all the extra noise - focusing on a narrow array of opportunities. Refinement also looks like cultivating expertise in medical school and then a narrow subset of things of things outside of medical school. So now, I’ll include things that I will look to maintain outside of school, things that bring me joy, but so that I can become more of an expert in them:
Writing, especially on how faith practically intersects with life and classroom learning
Cooking
Weightlifting
Training for Triathlon
That means actively looking to improve and when I have free time, considering these before considering other activities. These hobbies are more than enough but if there is one, and only one, new thing I would like to add to this list it might be Swing Dancing. But in the spirit of refinement, I’ll focus on that list for now and see if it keeps me busy.
I’ll do the other things I enjoy like hiking or Scuba Dive but I’ll tag along with others for those activities rather than actively pursue them by myself. It also means saying no for the things I really want to do and actively carving out and dedicating time to them.
I’ve tinkered with lots of applications and right now Sunsama feels really good for integrating with my calendar and class schedule - for knowing what I should be working on and when.
So here’s to celebrating a new year, this time with a refining perspective.