'Life is About...'

Originally published August 16, 2015

What up Internet! How’s it going? How’s the fam? Good? Nice.

Well for the last several weeks, I’ve been thinking a lot about what the past 3 years have meant for me. As I sit here a few weeks away from embarking on a new journey into the post-graduate medicine world, I can’t help but reflect on what I’ve learned about life. I went into university as an innocent, naïve 17-year-old. From asking stupid questions (totally asked my whole graduating class where was the best place to get a haircut in St. Andrews; yea I know, pretty embarrassing) to living carefree, I really didn’t care that much about what was happening in the world. 3 years and many, many experiences later, I’ve now become a less-innocent, less-naïve and hopefully more educated young person. This post is basically a reflection on what I’ve learned in the last 3 years.

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‘Life is about not just work.’

Before I left for university, I was always of the belief that because I was studying medicine, I would have to commit my whole life to it. I thought I wouldn’t have much free time outside of school and basically had to study my ass off 24/7. Now, that’s not to say I didn’t study or commit a lot of time to learning, but that for me, my life was not about work.

It was about everything outside of work.

The way I looked at it was that I had a job; to study hard, learn everyday and do well in school so that I could eventually get a degree and make my family proud. However, there are so many other things in my life that interest me more than sitting at a desk all day reading a textbook, so I always tried to be as efficient as possible with regards to studying. Don’t get me wrong, medicine is a great field and I’m never going to forget the first day I saw a dead body, or the countless 5 am study nights, or sitting in many lectures having no idea what was going on. But for me, there is so much more to life than just that.

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‘Life is about knowledge.’

Before university, I really didn’t care enough about what was going on in the world. If you asked me about the current economic situation in Europe or the latest political news in the US, I would be able to have a general conversation about it, but I would be nowhere near as informed as a lot of other people. Sure, I could tell you who won the latest golf tournament or what Lebron James was averaging, but sports knowledge always seemed second nature to me. I always cared about sports, whereas I never really cared about information.

Going to a global university with friends from all around the world made me realize that nowadays, the world is a much smaller place than it was 20, 30 years ago. For example, what is going on in Europe and Russia and Asia has a direct effect on my purchasing power, especially abroad, and I never really paid any attention to that before.

Also, I think because I study in a science background, oftentimes my classmates and I are so focused on learning what’s in front of us, rather than learning about what’s around us as well. I’ve realized that it’s so hard to have a conversation with a fellow science student that isn’t about what we’re learning or what happened last night, because we don’t really care enough to learn about it.

And it’s wrong.

With information being as accessible and instant as it is now with the likes of Twitter and Facebook, I strongly believe that it is my duty as a responsible citizen to be informed about what is going on around me, not only locally, but also globally. However, I never really understood that before university.

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‘Life is about opening your mind to new ideas and opinions.’

I’ve realized over my lifetime that every single person is smart and has something to offer to the world. However, sometimes we choose to be close-minded and tune out a lot of what other people have to say. Going to university has made me appreciate that everyone has a perspective and whether or not that opinion is helpful, it is definitely worth listening to because you never know when you’re going to learn from it.

(Before I talk about this, I just want to say I’m not for or against any side in this conflict. War is a terrible thing and it’s sad for everyone that’s affected by it. I just want to use this an example.)

I grew up watching CNN and seeing the world through the eyes of the Western media. For the longest time, I always believed that Israel was on the wrong side of the war in the Middle East and they were always being unjustly attacked by Palestine/Hamas. However, I never really took the time to study the conflict and look at it from both perspectives. Fortunately, my friend from Jordan showed me the war from the other side and I’m certainly not going to forget watching Israeli soldiers torturing Palestinians, or seeing them clap and cheer as they sent rockets into the Gaza strip. I was shocked as I watched that, because growing up, I never used to see that stuff on TV. That was probably the first time I realized that I definitely don’t know nearly as much as I think I do, and one a side note, never believe anything you watch on TV. (Btw, great show about media and the role it plays in opinion; the Newsroom. Go watch it, its awesome).

Moral of the story, always try to be a sponge because you never know when you’re going to learn something.

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‘Life is about the people around you.’

I heard something recently from a friend of mine that really made a lot of sense, ‘You’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.’ I’ve understood over the years that I’ve been lucky enough to have made friends with a great bunch of people that have kept me grounded and level-headed throughout my life. The close friends that I made before university have, and always will be close to me, but I think there’s a special place in my heart for my best friends at university. They’ve seen me (hopefully) mature and grow up over the last few years while somehow still sticking around. We, as a group, have been through so much shit together; from the countless nights out, to the endless FIFA matches and study sessions, to everything in between. Yet, I can still wake up every morning knowing that they’re always going to be there for me. For that, I am eternally grateful.

Moral here is always surround yourself with like-minded people who have the same ambition and drive to succeed as you, and screw negativity; you don’t need that shit in your life.

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‘Life is about appreciating what you have.’

I know I’ve talked about this before in my previous posts (shameless self-promotion: if you’ve made it this far and have time, go read my previous posts and tell me what you think) but I know I can never ever stop being grateful for everything I’ve been blessed with. I’ve been lucky enough to go to school in a country that is thousands of miles away from my house, learning to become a doctor while studying next to people from all over the world. That’s not to mention how much my parents have been able to give me. I’m so lucky that I can wake up every morning in a bed under a roof and not have to worry about where my next meal is coming from or how long I have to walk to get water. Very often we take these minor things for granted, but for so much of the world’s populations, our struggles seem like dreams. We’re so busy worrying about how many likes our Facebook picture is going to get or if that person is going to text us back when right now in the world, people are dealing with real problems. It really puts life into perspective and I can’t ever forget that.

‘Life is about experiences.’

Often times, we’re so caught up in small things in our life that we forget to truly live. It seems like nowadays because of social media, we want to share so much of our lives with our ‘friends’ that we forget to truly enjoy what we’re doing. We’re so caught up in recording that concert, or spending 15 minutes shooting and then editing that perfect Instagram picture that we forget to appreciate the music or admire the beautiful view.

Additionally, our society has become driven by materialistic items (cars, watches, purses, etc.) that we forget that they’re just possessions. When you’re on your deathbed, people aren’t going to remember you for what you have, but rather by the experiences you shared with them and how you were as a person. I’ve realized after a few years that I would much rather spend hundreds of dollars on an experience than to buy an item because you’re never going to forget the time you jumped out of a plane or swam with Great White sharks, but you’re always going to forget buying hundreds of dollars worth of clothes.

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‘Life is about now.’

No one lives in the past and no one lives in the future. Sometimes we’re so concerned about what we’re doing tomorrow or next week or next year that we forget about today. I so wish I could go back in time and relive my childhood and screw around a bit more because those are years I’m never going to get back. Even over the past 3 years, time has gone by so quickly that you forget to sometimes sit and just take it all in. You’re so concerned with that dinner next week or the exam in a few days that you forget to just enjoy being young, wild and free (Eyyy, great song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa5B22KAkEk). I’ll leave you with a quote from a great movie, ‘Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.’

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