#ask dx

i'm eighteen, in my final year of high school. i can tell you a million different reasons why i couldn't become a doctor. i'm extremely neurotic, i have shaky hands, i forget how to work when someone even so much as looks at me over my shoulder, i'm very intense and i am scared of blood (which i think that last one could be the easiest to fix among all of those) and probably more.

i know that doctors have to be almost perfect all the time, they are the opposite of everything i described. and i do not like to admit it but i am very easily stressed. finals have been incredibly stressful and it feels so big and consequential and life-or-death-like in my head, and i know it's only this way because how i do on this matters nearly the most to me, but i cant help but think that future doctors aren't supposed to be this way. they're not supposed to spiral under pressure and have breakdowns over something like a high school exam and yet here i am 😂

don't get me wrong, i dont think doctors are superhuman. but they do handle stress more effectively and i've been this way my whole life. i know i can change, but..

basically i just wanted to ask if you know of any doctors who somehow started off the way i did, i want to know the success rate here haha. i am just really drawn to medicine for family reasons, and i got a taste of it with my anatomy and physiology class which i actually love even if it's my toughest class.

Hey!

Most of the doctors I know started off as neurotic, anxious, socially awkward, introverted 17 year olds at some point, including myself. Sure, there's sometimes this idea that doctors should all be cut from the rich extroverted jock cloth, but whilst some people in the field are like that, plenty of us just aren't. We really don't have to be perfect all the time- I think that's a myth that society encourages. We're human, same as everyone else - and we have personalities, strengths and weaknesses, and actually have mental health issues at rates higher than the general public at large.

I actually think that it helps to struggle a little - to an extent - it helps us understand other people, and gives us a more realistic foundation when it comes to recognising that patients' lives are complex. Many of us have struggled with exams or our mental health at some point or other - many people are open about it on medblr, which is great.

Medblr's answer to this question would be:

I'd argue that a high school exam feels extremely important when that's the only exam you've sat - it's not unreasonable to find it hard. No matter how successful you are and how smart you are and how easy exams in school were, you WILL reach a point where you are challenged academically - where you may fail or at least not do as well as you expected. And honestly? the ones who did super well throughout often crumble the hardest when they suddenly realise they are small fish in a big pond and that everyone finds their limit at some point.

I do also think that the high pressure and intensity of medicine can certainly mean that it's not the best environment for some of us. And that sometimes the cost of trying to exist in these conditions is higher for some of us than for others. It's not always forgiving for those of us who struggle or who are neurodivergent. I don't blame anyone who sees the dumpster fire of medicine, and decides that this isn't what they want for their life - whatever stage of life they are in.

My mum often talks about how surprised she was that medicine treats us quite as badly as it does - I think the reality is something that we can discuss much more openly now than in the past. She's actually remarked that if I ever decide to do something else (rather like my husband left a non-medical job to do something else non-medical that he enjoys much more), she'd completely understand and approve.

lets see if i can get enough replies to make a tumblr edition as well~

ANIN IM SO SORRY you sent that ask FOREVER AGO 🙏🙏🙏 hope you still like it 😭😭

Icarus reaching for the sun I see your vision!!

i really was in need for domestic shiguang, thank you anon

im so excited for the 10 yr anniversary next yr!!

ur art delishiousz and yummy