Truth!

My dentist thinks I'm awesome. In fact, he thinks my life and my choices are so awesome that he would like me to sit down with his 13 year old daughter and give her life advice. If I hadn't had 17 steel pointy things embedded in my gums, I might have laughed at this.

I've been home (on vacation) for 3 days. I wake up reaching for my pager. Friends ask me how work is going and I tell them I'm dead inside. My "hilarious anecdotes" of time on the wards are met with silence. All I want is to sleep, but I am too anxious to relax. Would wish this life on a 13 year old?

I will admit, there are aspects of the job that I like. I like working with people. I like looking for clues about what's wrong, then testing my hypothesis with treatment. I like when I get it right. I like figuring out where I'm going wrong. I like the adrenaline of Code Blues. I like the warm fuzzies of family meetings. I like the camaraderie of Team Medicine. BUT I would like it to happen in manageable, 12 hour stretches, with ample rest and recuperation in between.

Anyways, my life advice for 13 year old girls (me) would be:
- If you can do it for 3 hours in a row without noticing time pass, it's a passion.
- If it makes you feel stronger, smarter and more engaged with the world around you, keep doing it.
- If it gets in the way of your hobbies and you feel stressed, stop doing it.
- Don't worry too much about finding boys/girls/romance.The bad ones are passive and hard work and will exhaust you. The good ones will find you and make your life more fun.
- Don't let your parents tell you what you like. Don't let your friends tell you what you like. You are the only one who has to live with your choices, and no matter what you choose, you'll end up annoying someone. Don't let it be you.

Presumably she (I) would roll her eyes at me. Then I would take her out for a blizzard, buy her clothes her parents won't like and tell her to call me anytime.