Healing is possible with time, sure, but healing takes something far more perilous: a leap of faith. But damn, if life's taught me anything, that risk is nothing compared to its rewards.
Category: Quitting Medicine
CALL TO ACTION: Asheville Needs Help
Yesterday, over a free lunch at the medical shelter in Asheville, I met a man. He said to my wife and I, “Wow, this is just crazy, huh?” “Yeah, it is,” we offered back, having offered the same reply hundreds of times in as many locations over the past five days since Hurricane Helene ravaged … Continue reading CALL TO ACTION: Asheville Needs Help
25 Years Later, I Accept My Type 1 Diabetes Diagnosis
As Kohut said, it's not in absolute autonomy that we find ourselves, but in healthy interdependence. Same goes for my relationship with diabetes, something I could never understand while in denial, but only through acceptance. And of course, diabetes camp was the necessary catalyst.
No, Really. I Want to Be Here.
“Look at Dr. Fightmaster over there. He doesn’t even want to be a psychiatrist.” I froze. I’d been found out. Then, a wave of fidelity crested and overcame years of hiding, as I replied, “You’re right; I don’t want to be a psychiatrist.”
Can’t Live With It, Can’t Live Without It
I thought it best to leave medicine behind me. It was just an eight year chapter that I wished to never repeat, right? Two years of time has revealed a surprising opposite: I can't survive without it.
A 35-Year-Old Man Completes Adolescence
Just because you leave an adolescent age (and enter medical school... and become a doctor... then become a psychiatrist), doesn't mean adolescence leaves you. Or so I've lived and understood, only now, at 35 years old.
The Eternal Impact of One Choice
As I followed these footsteps, my family members didn't turn around and implore me to take notes. Still, their bravery planted seeds of potential within my heart, and subsequently, I took copious notes. They did what needed to be done, for them. That was all I needed to see... then.
A First in Many Moons—The Hunt Stops
For the past eight years, I've been afraid to pause, scared to rest, reticent to enjoy. Unconsciously, I knew I couldn’t take that risk. But now, I consciously know I must.
What Does It Mean to Lose?
Failure. Absolute dejection. That's how I classified every loss. Until, that is, I needed to adopt another way to play the game... to be happy.
We Self-Deceive to Survive
It’s impossible to understand why we’re doing anything we do. When we do arrive at this future clairvoyance, we’ll be strong enough to understand; until then, the truth's weight is unbearable. This week, I arrived at one of those days, opened its hefty package, and unlocked my next chapter.
