I'm in the wrong profession

For a long time, people have told me that. A few years now, actually.

“Mubeenah-Tayyibah, that’s not what you’re meant to do. You could do so much more. Medicine is very practical and hands-on; you need something that will challenge your mind. You could be great…”

Blah, blah, blah.

And people keep saying that to me. It goes beyond my admittedly limited scope of understanding. These are people who supposedly care; why would they second guess my judgment?

I’ll tell you why. They see something so much more in me than just a doctor. Though I could not fathom how anyone can be more than that. For, when done for the right reasons, it is a fairly noble profession…

But no. According to the world, I should be a writer. And essay after essay, story after story, blog after blog, I prove them right. Over and over again, I make their case for them. So much so that I was even told to drop out of med school and blog professionally. [Uhm. Nafees Gierdien]

But what they fail to understand is that through all the hard work, late nights and intense studying, this is what I love. This is what I was born to do. Medicine has become my life. And I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else. Except maybe joining the Air Force. As doctor =P

I find no reason why I should give up one thing I love to pursue another. It makes no sense. Why can’t I study medicine, become the doctor I always wanted to, and be a writer? I’m doing it right now, aren’t I? And I fully intend to keep doing it.

It’s like I always like to say; if something feels right, the chances that it probably is. But if you have even the slightest inkling of a doubt or bad thought about it, it’s probably wrong. And I can honestly tell you that this is oh so very right.

So in the iconic words of Bon Jovi’s Have a nice day, “If there’s one thing I hang on to, that gets me through the night, I ain’t gonna do what I don’t want to. I’m gonna live my life; shining like a diamond, rolling with the dice, standing on a ledge and showin’ the wind how to fly. So when the world gets in my face, I say ‘have a nice day’.”

26 July 2013