To Be Thankful

If you could live your life over, would you have chosen the paths you do now? 

I am at a point of my life where decisions need to be made; at crossroads with my career and an uncertainty over what will happen over the next few months. 

Who knew that being a doctor counted as a critical service? Long hours, a grueling job which is occasionally a thankless one, and pay that sometimes seems inadequate compared to the work we put in. 

Being a doctor is definitely not something for those who are not willing to dedicate themselves to service. 

I am thankful that I love this job. 

The hours are long, but every minute extra spent can make a difference in someone’s life, and every minute spent is pahala. 

The job is grueling, but it builds character – or reveals it – and helps you walk through the shoes of others who are less fortunate. It trains you and tests you so you are aware of your own inadequacies and fallacies, and keeps you humble. 

It is thankless at times, but even the most thankless of days is still one spent improving the life of another individual. 

Our pay may not be as high as those working in the private sectors, but Alhamdulillah, it is comfortable enough to live through. I have enough to live comfortably, to have clothes on my back and food on my table, and that is something in itself to be grateful for.

I am at a point of my life where I’ve had to evaluate my path, and found that perhaps it is not always the road not taken that makes all the difference. 

I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

There is still a lot of improvements that can be made in the working lives and the training of young doctors, and we are still far from being a country that emphasizes a work-life balance, but we are hopefully heading to a direction that will bring this service and our country from strength to strength.

It will be interesting to see what will happen in the years to come.