Sacrifice

Medical school makes you give up many of the things you love. I thought I'd find more of a balance... the unfortunate truth is that it's very difficult to do. I lost my soccer community - I went from playing 3 times a week, with a great group of friends, on three separate teams, to playing once every one or two weeks. I used to play guitar daily - I now sit down and play maybe once a week - sometimes I'm lucky and play twice a week for a total of 30 minutes!

After going to our medschool's multicultural performing arts show this past friday and watching dances, music, and other performances by students at our school (a talented bunch, which makes sense... med students are busy and involved with lots of stuff before getting to med school), I remembered how much I miss my passions that make me who I am (primarily soccer and music). I also remembered that many of the most talented individuals lack creative talent (many of the most skillful performers/singers/instrumentalists lack the ability to create interesting things). Both frustrated me.

I miss the band I used to play in, and I miss playing soccer. These aren't things that can be substituted. Soccer is a type of exercise that requires you constantly be assessing the game around you, the players, the ball, the flow, and at the same time communicating with players on the field, anticipating the play, all while running around, constantly. It's a great workout, mentally and physically. Med school gives you a good mental work out, and going to the gym gives you a good physical workout, but it's really not the same, and it's frustrating. Boston doesn't have much of a soccer culture either, making it that much more difficult to play.

I decided to start sitting down and playing more guitar. I started today. Instead of studying straight through the day, I took three hours to play and write some music. It felt good, and I think I'll continue doing it.

It's february 13th, so I hope tomorrow brings a great valentine's day for all five of you reading this :)

Seriously though, have a great day, a great week, and remember the many people who love you for who you are, they make life pretty awesome.