If you’re reading this, yes, you can.
Like many others, I have encountered many challenges in the long road of medical training.
Yet, one of the most important lessons I have learned is that sometimes, the difference between making it and giving up is remembering what you are capable of.
I am known to be (overly) fond of metaphors, so I often think of this journey as a long and winding hiking trail. At the onset, all you know about the journey ahead is what’s on the trail map, a vague plan regarding the major milestones and general struggles you should expect to encounter. It is easy to see the big picture at the start; you can look up towards the peak and recognize where you hope your final destination will be. Only when you begin the journey do you come across unavoidable difficulties and hardships that no trail map describes in detail. As you begin to navigate unsteady ground and narrow trails, your focus moves downwards to your feet, ensuring you survive the immediate steps ahead of you. You only think about making it up the next set of rocks, accomplishing only as far as your eyes can follow the trail ahead, what is expected of you next. Though, the more you put your head down, the less you notice your surroundings. All you know is how much time has passed, but you can no longer see where you started or the peak. It can feel as if you’ve walked forever and have made no progress, and you have forever left to go.
Fog obscures the view of fall foliage from a peak in the New Hampshire White Mountains. Photography by Sara Shoushtari, October 2021
Not too long ago, I reached a point where I thought I might not be cut out for medicine. I thought maybe I had dreamed too big and overestimated my abilities. The mountains looked so big, and I wasn’t sure I was suited for hiking.
I am grateful to be supported and surrounded by so many people who care about me because of the person I am inside, not because of what I accomplish. They emphasize that my aspirations should come from personal desire, not motivated by a desire to impress others. So, when I started having these thoughts, they reminded me of how far I had come in my journey. I realized I hadn’t ‘looked up’ in a long time. I hadn’t taken the time to acknowledge all that I had made it through. Now, this didn’t make the challenges ahead any smaller, but my attitude changed from “there is no way I can climb this” to “this won’t be easy, but why not me?”.
I hope that you take some time along the way to the top to recognize what you have accomplished and what you are capable of. You are the only person who can walk this journey, but try to remember that you don’t have to do it alone. You aren’t the first person to do it, either. So many others have walked the same path and succeeded in their own way, and you are just as capable and deserving of the same. Recognizing this won’t make it easier; you will still find patches of unsteady ground and will be required to exert yourself more than you ever thought possible. You will be the one to decide how far you want to go, at what pace, and what peaks are worth struggling to climb. But know that there is no mountain you are not capable of summiting.
I can do it. You can do it. Together, we can do it. ¡Sí se puede!
Sara S.
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