Dr. Chen writes,
"Medical school was not easy for me. I knew that I wanted to become a doctor to help people, but I had given little thought to the process. I was poorly prepared for many things: the pressure to excel in ways that seemed so far from caring for people; rapidly mounting debts I signed off on every semester; a roller coaster existence from chronic lack of sleep; hazing from the more experienced students and residents; and the realities of patient suffering despite my best efforts."Even only two months into medical school, we have been constantly reminded by faculty about the many student counseling services available to help us with any type of problems that we may be having, ranging from needing to improve study habits to having depression. Last week, we even had a lecture about how we should deal with stress, were informed again about the various student resources at school, and even touched on the subject of how to properly respond if we were to ever come across a situation where we knew that someone was contemplating suicide.
How do you spiritually prepare yourself for such an environment? On what foundations are your motivations founded? To where and whom would you turn to for help, guidance, and counsel? And what is your source of peace and contentment? I encourage you to think about these things, as you will be entering a very worldly academic environment where you must be careful to guard your heart against what the world has to offer in terms of peace and success and continue abide in Christ for peace and contentment.
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