Crossroads and Risk

At several times in life, it always seems like it comes down to a couple of key decisions that will really influence the degree of freedom that one will have on his/her pathway through life.

• Will I get a job after I graduate?
• Am I doing the right things in terms of the career that I'm choosing, and the pathway in which I have to be headed?
• How am I going to balance between the passion of working hard but also finding time to relax and enjoy the life which my job will be funding?

Often, it feels as if we are stuck making these decisions far too early in our lifetimes, which is a reason that I advocate people choosing their professions after they have matured from their high school state of mind. But - society doesn't seem to want us to work that way, and in certain professions, it is expected that the hours of work put in will correlate directly with "how badly you want it". 

Of course, this also reflects my parents' traditional asian view of my upbringing: work hard, do something stable, and get paid to do it. But - as I've been finding out more and more recently, it's about choosing your spots and making sure you enjoy your life as you grow up, not saving a pile of money to attempt to enjoy when your body is no longer capable of it.

Anyway, it seems like I'll be awfully busy over the next slab of year; I somehow managed to enrol myself to be the band director for an upcoming production, am starting to put in research applications for Honours (man I'm only in my first year of med school!) and still want to get out door for climbing...

And speaking of climbing, I got "the talk". The one where your parents grill you on responsibility and making sure you look after them in their old age - and the fact that you'll be unable to do that if you're a vegetable.... But come on - look at the high-risk nature of so many other daily activities... Even the chance that you'll get seriously injured in a car crash is pretty high! (Don't let me put you off driving..) All I'm saying is - if you're not prepared and you don't have the right equipment or training, then of course it's going to be dangerous - BUT, you have to control that amount of risk. Isn't that what a large part of medicine is all about?

I'll leave it there. More to come soon. :)