Natural Talent vs Hard Work

So, this is a pretty random post, but its about an unusually profound experience (yeah, I didn't have many) I had as a kid.

It's sort of like the thing you might read in a book, so you'll just have to take my word for it that this story is not actually made up.

Basically, when I was about eight or so, I used to do gymnastics (I quit at the age of ten after realising I was, to put it bluntly, quite shit). After our beginners' class was over, I'd go meet my mum in the viewing area and we'd sometimes stay a bit longer, watching the slightly more advanced classes.

Just before one such class was about to start, two girls were practicing.

One was about six years old, and effortlessly swinging round and round a horizontal beam, with exceptional grace and remarkable strength (she was using just her arms). She looked as though she was loving it.

On another beam, a girl of about fourteen was doing the same, and she was just as skilled, but you could see where she had built up muscle in her upper arms over the years, and the concentration etched on her face.

Neither girl missed a beat, and were extremely proficient, but my mother pointed at them and said, "That little girl? She's got a gift. She'll never have to try too hard in gymnastics, and still might go on to be champion in her field. That older girl also has a gift, but its not in gymnastics. She's clearly worked extremely hard to get to the level she is. She may also do well, but she'll have to put in double the effort."

Go ahead and ponder. I just thought I'd share it with you...it was one of the first things that taught me that natural talent and hard work are two very different things, and that you should probably try not to waste a God-given skill.

Not that I necessarily follow ANY of that over a decade later, but yeah.

xx

'Yeah, I don't think it'll come to anything.'

...my lovely (he IS lovely, he's just also a surgeon) daddy's response to the following, which I excitedly told him over the phone last night:

"You remember my F1 friend? Well, she says one of her F1 colleagues really isn't enjoying being a doctor, and she's looking to go into some sort of writing profession, potentially medical journalism. So I'm going to meet with her next week to see how she's going about it!"

Fabulous. Thanks, dad. I know it's his role to be realistic and to warn me in advance when he can foresee my daydreams being crushed, but still.

To be honest, I'm not sure what will be achieved by speaking with her. But if I start F1 and feel the same way as she does, then I'd like to know what my options are; so speaking to her seems a good idea.

Will update on how it goes, of course!

In other news, the Lancet offer some kind of internship programme to medical students as well, so I've contacted them in addition to the BMJ. Can't hurt, can it?

Off now for a talk on the UKFPO (or MTAS) job application process for medical students xx

P.S. By the way, in case anybody non-medical ever stumbles across this, F1 refers to a 'foundation year one' doctor, i.e. the most junior doctor)

Orthopaedic Surgeons: Medicine's Marmite

I have some - not many - friends who *genuinely*do hardly any work throughout the whole year, and then at the end, they somehow manage to cram everything they need to know - and they do really really well.

The worst thing about that is not the fact that they do it; but the fact that I once-upon-a-time thought I could do the same.

Yeah, I can't.

It was a hard lesson to learn, and time management is a lot more difficult than I anticipated (this being the first year that I've realised the cramming will not work for me, even if it might for others).

But enough of that! Mini rant over...

I don't know if I already mentioned this, but I'm currently on my orthopaedic / rheumatology attachment. I'm actually enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would, and - oh dear God, I can't believe that as a 'reluctant medic', I'm about to say this, but - I like the orthopaedic side of things!

Oh, don't get me wrong - I could never be an ortho surgeon. I have neither the upper body strength nor the testosterone, but I do quite like the theatre banter and I love the fact that it's so straightforward.

Don't repeat the above to anybody though. We wouldn't want people to think I had changed my ways :P

I had an interesting discussion with a fellow student about orthopaedic surgeons the other day. The girl in question is very ambitious and since first year, I've assumed her eventual aim to be a surgical one, and she's mentioned orthopaedics in the past as well.

Me being me, I never really listened, and 'orthopaedic surgery' were words that might as well have been in Swahili for all they meant to me. I wasn't interested and didn't care.

So it was REALLY funny when I said to her 'Oh, I'm actually quite enjoying orthopaedics!', and she responded, 'Really?! I've been completely turned off it by some of the totally awful surgeons!'

I was a little bit surprised given surgery was apparently her heart's one true love, and orthopaedics seemed so hardcore that it would definitely have been within the types of surgery she'd consider the best. So naturally I asked why, and said, 'They seem great to me! They're a bit laddish, but the banter is wicked!'

Her response? A sniffy 'Yes, well, I'm not surprised YOU think that. I just think they're arrogant bastards.'

...I'm not really sure what that says about what she thinks of me? But I found it pretty hilarious, anyway. I like this girl a lot, but I couldn't help snorting with laughter at that last response; didn't go down too well...

Anyway. More later, off to bed now! xx

An Epiphany

It's recently struck me - in full force, that is, as opposed to in the pipe dream fashion - that if I'm genuinely a 'reluctant medic' then I might need an alternate career path, and I might have to start working towards that sooner rather than later.

This entirely unwanted epiphany occured after I realised that I have less than six months to go before the dreaded period of time known as 'finals'.

Finals being a full blown 'FML' if there ever was one, and especially for me.

I desperately want to apply for the Clegg Scholarship for my elective, which is an 8 week placement with the BMJ (you know, a great alternative to a clinical placement), but the only thing is, they don't let you start applying until gone October, which is a little irritating, being as my elective period is from mid March, so this gives very little time in between to plan a back up.

And I'll definitely need a back up. Because I bet the scholarship is quite competitive.

I really need to brush up on my knowledge of medical journalism, and how the BMJ works, and so on, before I apply, though. And especially so if I'm going to consider it the potential alternate career path...

Enough musings. I'm off to go look up the editor.

FML indeed...