Are you blowing the best years of your life?

surebreC said:

I am having some second thoughts about this medicical bidness. Is medicine worth missing out on some of the best years of your life?

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Honestly? I've never worked harder in my life, spent so many Friday and Saturday nights in the library, and gotten so little recognition for my efforts. But I've also never been happier or more sure that I'm doing exactly what I want to be doing.

If you feel like you'll be missing out on something by not hitting up happy hour with your friends every day after work, or by not being able to spend a paycheck on new clothes every other week, or whatever else it is people in their 20s do, then you might not be happy in med school. The only way you'll make it through is if this is really what you want to be doing.

I still go out regularly and spend a good deal of time with friends. It's a lot of work, and some sections are pretty rough, but in my opinion it beats having a job that I have no interest in.

It's not so bad..... but it you're really worried, you can ork a few yrs then go to med school.

I definately think about it sometimes. but in all reality, I'm not really squandering these years. We still party. We just party every 3 weeks. it's not so bad.

Clearly, med school is not for everyone. But neither is pissing away your 20s in a binge-drinking, shift-working, job-hopping, directionless, apathetic, single-parenting, dissatisfied, pot-smoking haze-- which seems to be the favoured route in my hometown.

They're only the best years of your life if you're doing what you want to do.

surebreC said:

Good to know, but you are superhuman.

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not really superhuman, he pretty much summed up life im med school. you do what it takes when its needed and relax when you can.

surrender903 said:

not really superhuman, he pretty much summed up life im med school. you do what it takes when its needed and relax when you can.

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For me its do what I can and relax when I need to. I never have the time to relax so I just have to relax when I need to. Same with working out. You can let medical school take over all your time-it could easily happen.

Hey, I'm not really 'enjoying' medical school. I'm just going on faith that I'll enjoy being a doctor and seeing patients.

Is it wasting my best years? I don't feel that way because I took several years off and cruised around tropical areas before starting school. I'm not one of those people who is 'only' interested in medicine and being a doctor-I have a lot of other interest too, but being a doctor is the one that I went with because you have to focus the majority of your efforts in one area of life, and for now, medical school and medicine is what I'm most passionate about. Later on, who knows? I'm young enough that I don't have to stay in medicine forever.

surebreC said:

I am having some second thoughts about this medicical bidness. Is medicine worth missing out on some of the best years of your life?

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try talking to someone older (i.e. 40-50 yrs) who did not go to med school. ask them if they think u are wasting your 20s. compared to what most people do in their 20s, med school is not a waste. not by a long shock. some times it helps to get a true picture of how the grass is on the other side.

The key is recognizing that what you're doing now is what's important. To be cheesy - it's the journey, man. Sure there's some long-off goal but you have to be able to be happy everyday doing your thang, medschool or not. Think about it this way...if you (god-forbid) die in a car crash a month before graduation would you feel like the last four years were a waste? For me that answer was and is no, because med school was fun, challenging, and sometimes a real privilege. It's the same old carpe diem crap that people always say but nobody ever really thinks about for themselves.

surebreC said:

Is medicine worth missing out on some of the best years of your life?

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You never get your 20s back nor can you really make up for it. You most likely have seen people who try to make up for it when they are older, and it usually doesn't look pretty. The whole 'delayed gratification' thing they feed you is to entice you to keep pushing ahead. But I have yet to see any significant 'delayed gratification' among doctors (except for maybe more money), if anything they are working as hard as they ever were.

Med school has seemed like an extension of college to me, and I've had fun. I think it's the ideal way to spend your youth, you have relatively few responsibilties and obligations. I think it would suck to have to be worrying about a job, family, house/car notes, and all of the other crap that comes with having a professional career all throughout your 20's.

Anyone who says "yes, I live in the library studying anatomy, but I love every minute of it!" is lying to themselves. Medicine is hard work. Ther are plenty of moments when it is alot of fun and very rewarding, but there will also be alot of times that are downright painful. Anyone who disagrees has never been paged during your 1 hr of sleep on-call, just before you have to preround, by a nurse complaining that a patient is not written for a diet. ( I mean come on, can't that wait until the morning..its not like to patient will be eating in the middle of the freakin night).

But the fact is, ANY job worth doing will be hard work. Ask your friends who are lawyers or i-bankers or consultants or engineers or almost anything. Everyone at this stage works almost 80 hrs/week. If you don't, then there is probably a pretty low cieling on your career.

The key is to expect that it will be hard so that you will open to its glories as well.

Best of luck.

surebreC said:

I am having some second thoughts about this medicical bidness. Is medicine worth missing out on some of the best years of your life?

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College is the best years of your life, and that's over, so get used to it.
Med school is not that much different in terms of hours from a high intensity job. Plenty of folks spend their 20s in the rat race working long hour days.

"Best years of my life"? Ha ha, honestly what the hell else would I be doing? I don't drink, I don't do drugs, I'm too nerdy/shy to be cruisin' for chicks and getting into one-night-stands/orgies, I'm not really into partying or clubbing, so using the time in my life when my brain is the clearest for some hardcore studying seems to be a good use of my time.

Messerschmitts said:

I don't drink, I don't do drugs, I'm too nerdy/shy to be cruisin' for chicks and getting into one-night-stands/orgies,

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I think drinking could probably overcome the shyness part, but you could be pretty outgoing and non-nerdy and still not manage to pull together an orgy -- that's a pretty tall order .

Messerschmitts said:

"Best years of my life"? Ha ha, honestly what the hell else would I be doing? I don't drink, I don't do drugs, I'm too nerdy/shy to be cruisin' for chicks and getting into one-night-stands/orgies, I'm not really into partying or clubbing, so using the time in my life when my brain is the clearest for some hardcore studying seems to be a good use of my time.

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I agree except I'm not shy and I do go out on occasion, though not really into partying. Anyhow what else would you be doing, working a menial job with lower long term benefits? I mean if I wasn't doing this I'd just be doing something else, so I might as well do this since I love it and I have to do something. Working isn't that fun, and the rewards are great after graduating with your medical degree.

emack said:

Clearly, med school is not for everyone. But neither is pissing away your 20s in a binge-drinking, shift-working, job-hopping, directionless, apathetic, single-parenting, dissatisfied, pot-smoking haze-- which seems to be the favoured route in my hometown.

They're only the best years of your life if you're doing what you want to do.

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wow. very well said!
I have friends at home blowing their lives.. literally playing world of warcraft for 15+ hours per day, living at home with parents, in their 20s.. that seems a lot worse than being in a college town, learning medicine, meeting plenty of new people (after block exams of course), and still having a moderate social life in between. .. some gunners never see the light of day, however they experience some greater satisfaction by owning the exams. You can take that with a grain of salt..

What emack listed is a waste of 20s and 30s (because they need to catch up someday). Mind you, the 30s are a damn good time too (I am 22, but I have faith the 30s-40s are just fine).
Being in medical school, learning great things, and still getting to party on occassion? THAT is a good way to spend a vibrant 4 years.. I am in the middle of a sh*tty anatomy block, and I would never traid it for the mindless, drunken, smoked up cycle my old friends embrace.

I do not enjoy studying, sometimes I truly hate it. But I wonder what else I could be doing?

I don't mind the work, but I wish I had more money (not excessive amount) so that I could do things that I enjoy like traveling. Being a poor medical student, now that really sucks

PoorMD said:

wow. very well said!
I have friends at home blowing their lives.. literally playing world of warcraft for 15+ hours per day, living at home with parents, in their 20s.. that seems a lot worse than being in a college town, learning medicine, meeting plenty of new people (after block exams of course), and still having a moderate social life in between. .. some gunners never see the light of day, however they experience some greater satisfaction by owning the exams. You can take that with a grain of salt..

What emack listed is a waste of 20s and 30s (because they need to catch up someday). Mind you, the 30s are a damn good time too (I am 22, but I have faith the 30s-40s are just fine).
Being in medical school, learning great things, and still getting to party on occassion? THAT is a good way to spend a vibrant 4 years.. I am in the middle of a sh*tty anatomy block, and I would never traid it for the mindless, drunken, smoked up cycle my old friends embrace.

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Eh. Different strokes for different folks. Its all about what you are happy doing. We wouldn't be happy living in an average and academically unchallenging life because we are all type-As that focus on achievement and applying ourselves to the maximum. But a lot of people are content to live normal lives and not dedicate themselves to 11+ years of post-high school education. And I can't blame them either. Medical school makes having kids more complicated, and its hard to have time to be a 'normal' person. This type of lifestyle might feel 'normal' to type-A overachievers who are used to that type of pace-but I say thank god that we aren't the only type of people in the world.
The only reason I'm doing med school is because I believe being a doctor will be fulfilling for me, and that I might be able to do some good for people (*cross-fingers*).

Anyways, you all act like its a choice between living in a drunken haze or going to medical school (YOU COULD DO BOTH!!! (jk)). ...there are many other paths in life. We just couldn't think of any we more suited to!

it seems to me from my few friends in med school that it is what you make of it. sure you can still go party every night and get drunk cuz its less responsibility than in college, but if you want to do well, then you need to study. it also depends on the school. highly structured med schools like UCI versus less grade-rigorous schools like UCLA or Yale, there's going to be a difference in how much "free time" ppl have and what they do with it. sorry if any of this is inaccurate, just hearsay on my part.

surebreC said:

I'm not really much of a partier but I do enjoy having a social life and going out to do fun things. This year off has been bad because I've spent almost everyday at the beach. My job is easy, pays ok, and i've met so many frickin women that I get them all mixed up.

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Bad like 'bad', or bad like 'good'?

What was the reason you deferred? Not sure you wanted to do med school?

I'll tell you, your lifestyle is fun. But probably after awhile it won't be 'enough' for you anymore and you'll get restless. Then you'll go on to do something else. If you go on to do medical school in about 6 months you'll be wondering what the hell seemed so unfulfilling about your previous life. But at least you'll be challenging yourself.

Its a tradeoff. Its not so bad if you can go to med school in a warm weather climate. I had to leave Hawaii to come to Michigan for medical school. Yechh...

kirexhana said:

sure you can still go party every night and get drunk cuz its less responsibility than in college, but if you want to do well, then you need to study.

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I don't know at what med school you can pull this off, but I assure you that at a lot, if not most, med schools, if the average person opts to get drunk every night there's a real good chance he won't pass -- it's not simply an issue of "doing well". While it's difficult to totally fail out of school, plenty of folks end up having to repeat courses. Not the way you want to spend your summer break...

surebreC said:

I meant bad because it hasn't done anything to make me want to go back to school as I'd hoped. The plan was to take a year off to refresh before medical school.

If the school I was going to was in a better location, it would be a different. However, I am gonna be leaving the tropics for an urban ghetto in the south... I need some ocean

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Fellow surfer right here. And I left Hawaii, brah. Hey, listen, you won't have that much time to go surfing anyway. Unless you lived right on the ocean. Oh, god, now you are making me miss it. I just think about the fact I won't be in friggin Siberia for the rest of my life. I will see the sun and the ocean again.

Bottom line is, if you think you can be happy doing something else, then go for it. Would you still be feeling pretty blah about this whole medical school thing if someone took that acceptance away? You worked hard to get it in the first place.
You need to distinguish between a case of cold feet, and deciding something isn't right for you. After I got accepted I had about 2 weeks of elation, and then 10 months of dread as I knew that my life would soon be what it is now. But that was cold feet, I never seriously considered doing anything else with my life.

I'm sure you'll come up with the right decision for you. Hey, if you want to be near the ocean, you can do that. Just don't go into something with a 10 year residency, if surfing is one of your passions.

surebreC said:

There is always time to surf

I think it is really just cold feet because I can't imagine doing any other profession - it's just i'd rather not start for a few years (like say around 50 ).

It doesn't help that none of my friends over here are serious about anything other than surfing/windsurfing/scoring. I need some nerdy medfriends.

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Wait til you start school. I have sacrificed doing things that I never thought I would. You can still find time to do them-but things you used to do every day you might now do every 2 weeks.

I hear you. I wish I could work as a doctor til age 50, then have kids, then retire. I have so much stuff I want to do. Like travel. Doctors without borders is not happening. I just found out they don't let your bring your SO along with you.

surebreC said:

I guess that means i'm going to have to sacrifice having an SO then International medicine is the reason I am going into medicine.

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Thats hard core, man.

There are a lot of other ways to do international medicine than doctors without borders.

Man you guys have some over-achieving friends in their 20s. Most people in their 20s if not in school are living paycheck to paycheck.

As far as I'm concerned, youth is good for two things:

1) Good looks =====> Promiscuity
2) Competitive athletics.

Since I'm not an exceptional athlete or interested in promiscuity (*winks at right hand*), I dont' see my twenties as an especially important period in my life.

I try to live life day by day. I have a daily ritual where I...

1) Pour out a glass of wine.
2) Sniff the wine.
3) Think to myself, "what did I do well today?" and "What did I do poorly today?"
4) Think to myself, "What is my short term plan?"
5) Raise my glass high and say, "L'Chaim" ("To life") aloud.
6) Remind myself that life is good
7) Drink the wine slowly and with exaggerated delight.

I genuinely enjoy studying most of the time, and I disagree with MSIV (I'm inclined to accuse him/her of projection). To me, the universe is awesome and beautiful. I am interested in many subjects besides medicine and enjoy lively debate with intellectuals. I get stressed out from time to time, but it's usually due to poor planning or from factors other than academics.

Key point: It is the fallacy of pessimists to presume that happiness or despair are dependent on the the external world. Mood is a direct emergent property of the internal, physical brain!...which can be influenced by the external world. But you have the power to decide how the world acts on you. You make the decision to break down and cry or to rise up boldly and accept the challenge!

one of the best things i found in my fellow classmates in med school (and i'm not even talking about people i was very close with) is that we're all asking ourselves some version of this same question at some point. the question of what are we doing here? and the few who aren't asking themselves that question? well, you're very much too different from them to make meaningful comparisons about why your heads are in different places. so you won't be alone in wondering some days what the hell you are doing there and should you stay. there's no answer, but it's nice to know you aren't the only one asking that question.

the other thing i would say is, don't be afraid to live the questions sometimes. answers don't always arrive when we want or think we need them; they come when they come. so live the questions in the meantime. find your way through the dark. i took over five years between med school and undergrad, and actually, i'm not sure if i've had the best years of my life yet or not. many of them have been so good... i think i might just have a great life--like a lot of people. i look forward to all the years to come. much of that is just outlook. but i digress. med school is good in many ways. and truly, you are lucky to have the opportunity. one thing is certain, you won't know anything real about it if you don't try. good luck!

studying anatomy in the gross lab at 2am is nothing like surfing everyday. doing rectal exams on vets is nothing like meeting women. being in massive debt is nothing like making good money. the library is nothing like an exotic locale.

most people find enjoyment from medicine by coersion. they get here and are trapped, so they make the best of it. suddenly they love radiation oncology or derm. when it comes down to it, it's a delusion. it's just about scraping enough satisfaction to keep you going.

it's not a good idea to think of medicine in terms of what you're giving up. in these terms, the sacrifice is huge. i don't think many people can fully fathom it, and many of us can't remember the full extent since we're now engrossed in this lifestyle.

but you can do a lot of cool things in medicine. maybe you won't love it but that is not to say it can't be fulfilling. if your perspective is goal oriented rather than sacrifice averting, medicine is quite tolerable.

surebreC said:

Problem is, I've already been accepted and deffered a year.

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This is a red flag for you, no?

surebreC said:

I'm not really much of a partier but I do enjoy having a social life and going out to do fun things. This year off has been bad because I've spent almost everyday at the beach. My job is easy, pays ok, and i've met so many frickin women that I get them all mixed up.

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I hear ya surebre. I've been at this med school thing for a couple of years, and although I've tried to take time to relax and have fun, I can't say that I'm enjoying life as much as before I started. My life was a lot like yours before I started med school. Sure, my "Type-A" personality takes some satisfaction in "dominating" tests from time to time, and I do enjoy the interaction with my classmates, but I have to laugh when I hear people talking as if they couldn't be happy doing anything else. Or couldn't make good money doing anything else. Or couldn't feel satisfied doing anything else. "I was meant to be a doctor...it is my destiny..."

Just because you don't go to medical school doesn't mean you end up smoking pot all day....eventually becoming dependent on welfare checks to survive. I know plenty of happy, hardworking, successful people who never went to med school.

You can probably find some disgruntled post-office employee out there who once wanted to go to med school and didn't...which in turn "ruined" his/her life....but I know PLENTY of docs who absolutely hate their jobs...and have nothing but negative things to say about medicine. So I think it can go either way. It all comes down to you and what you really want. If you can't live without the daily reminder that you are "elite" because you are a med student/resident/doc, then you should probably go to med school. If you don't really care, I say keep doing what you're doing. Life is too short.

Maybe I'm a terrible slack-off, but I'm not under the impression that medical school is any sort of great time sacrifice, at least not in the first two years. The only time when I've felt like I had no time for fun was the first block of the first semester, and that was only cuz I didn't yet have my $hit together in terms of study habits and such.

I don't think most medical students spend all weekend studying, unless it's the weekend before tests. You will still have time to go out on the weekends and occasionally even on the weeknights. You don't even have to go to class if you don't want to. I think I have more time now than I would if I had taken an actual job after college.

getunconcsious said:

I don't think most medical students spend all weekend studying, unless it's the weekend before tests.

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I don't think you can say "most" -- it totally depends on the school and the student body. Some schools/courses structure it such that you have tests as frequently as every other week, so it's almost always a week before a test. And otherwise those who are studying all weekend would tend to be either those shooting for high grades or those struggling -- and these two groups at times or at some schools together can compose the majority of a class, I believe.

Callogician said:

Key point: It is the fallacy of pessimists to presume that happiness or despair are dependent on the the external world. Mood is a direct emergent property of the internal, physical brain!...which can be influenced by the external world. But you have the power to decide how the world acts on you. You make the decision to break down and cry or to rise up boldly and accept the challenge!

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bingo! you will be a much happier person once you realize that how you feel is mostly a choice that you make.

I think this thread points out the differences between people. I lived in the real world before going to med school, made good money, lived in a city, pulled chicks enough and decided to go to med school 'cause I wanted to do more stuff. I'm so not a gunner and don't think I sacrificed much. Went out as much as I wanted, etc etc. But some people had to study all the time and were wound super tight the whole 4 years. Those people are probably always going to uptight, I'm not...bottom line is that you don't change 'cause you're in med school...if you're an unhappy complainer before, you'll be an unhappy complainer during and after.

Law2Doc said:

I don't think you can say "most" -- it totally depends on the school and the student body. Some schools/courses structure it such that you have tests as frequently as every other week, so it's almost always a week before a test. And otherwise those who are studying all weekend would tend to be either those shooting for high grades or those struggling -- and these two groups at times or at some schools together can compose the majority of a class, I believe.

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At my school we have two tests a week, usually one on Monday and then one on thursday or friday, so we are constantly studying for a test. I don't really think that anyone takes the weekend off-we just find a couple of hours on Friday night and then cram on Saturday and Sunday. I know some religious students who take Sundays off-(of course they don't go out to the bar Friday night) but I also know that their grades are always a couple percentage points away from passing/failing. For me it is more stressful to be barely passing-I like to put the extra effort in to give myself a bigger cushion with better grades so I'm not feeling that dread when 'it all comes down to the final'.

You need to grow up and face reality. This is how I look this topic as a student scientist in genetics. I don’t know the exact numbers, but most everyone dislikes what they do for a living and what they have done with their lives. There are no glamour’s jobs. None what so ever! Every successful person has had to work hard in some fashion and all jobs, careers, and life styles have their flaws. Be it in-depth thinking every day, working as a laborer, an NFL coach living a life of constant high anxiety, a medical student thinking they are a waste of interacting molecules while studying anatomy at a library at 11:00 pm, an actress coming to reality that there career is coming to an end and then getting fat, a race car driver knowing he/she can be killed in a split second when going 195 miles per hour with 400 horse powers sitting only a couple of feet in front them, a coal miner who can get a deadly illness, a stay at home mom who can developed Alzheimer’s, a scientists worry about not getting his next grant proposal funded or his/her next publication submission rejected, a store clerk knowing they have no career advancement opportunities, a manager at a factory firing a non-skilled individual that will struggle to get a new job, a lawyer who has to send people to jail for years and having to see dead people (and other things that can happened to a lawyer), a druggy who is a waste of oxygen and CO production, an athlete who developed a debilitating injury, a teenager or 22 year old that becomes a millionaire and does nothing with the rest of their life besides using up oxygen and farting sulfur into the atmosphere, a priest who really does believe there is no God but still has to preach that there this is a God and that a God does answer prayers just so he/she can have an income, and so many other examples that can be used.

It does not matter what career you have, how you got to the point where you are currently in life, it all comes down to survival.

So what is the purpose of life? Well, there really isn’t one. When you break down living matter, it comes down to the interactions of molecules and the purpose of these molecules interacting with each other.

jonathon said:

You need to grow up and face reality. This is how I look this topic as a student scientist in genetics. I don’t know the exact numbers, but most everyone dislikes what they do for a living and what they have done with their lives. There are no glamour’s jobs. None what so ever! Every successful person has had to work hard in some fashion and all jobs, careers, and life styles have their flaws. Be it in-depth thinking every day, working as a laborer, an NFL coach living a life of constant high anxiety, a medical student thinking they are a waste of interacting molecules while studying anatomy at a library at 11:00 pm, an actress coming to reality that there career is coming to an end and then getting fat, a race car driver knowing he/she can be killed in a split second when going 195 miles per hour with 400 horse powers sitting only a couple of feet in front them, a coal miner who can get a deadly illness, a stay at home mom who can developed Alzheimer’s, a scientists worry about not getting his next grant proposal funded or his/her next publication submission rejected, a store clerk knowing they have no career advancement opportunities, a manager at a factory firing a non-skilled individual that will struggle to get a new job, a lawyer who has to send people to jail for years and having to see dead people (and other things that can happened to a lawyer), a druggy who is a waste of oxygen and CO production, an athlete who developed a debilitating injury, a teenager or 22 year old that becomes a millionaire and does nothing with the rest of their life besides using up oxygen and farting sulfur into the atmosphere, a priest who really does believe there is no God but still has to preach that there this is a God and that a God does answer prayers just so he/she can have an income, and so many other examples that can be used.

It does not matter what career you have, how you got to the point where you are currently in life, it all comes down to survival.

So what is the purpose of life? Well, there really isn’t one. When you break down living matter, it comes down to the interactions of molecules and the purpose of these molecules interacting with each other.

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Honestly, this kind of fatalistic reasoning is just a cop out. i.e. Everything sucks, everyone dies, there is no glamour in the world, so "grow up and face reality". I'm afraid you are the one missing the ball here. If people applied logic like yours, we would all be living in caves, and no one would take any pleasure in any form of betterment or career. FYI, I know quite a few people who are actually genuinely happy with their lives and what they do for a living, and are excited to come to work, etc. But they certainly approached life with a different attitude than your post. The world, and your life in it, is what you make of it.

Honestly, this kind of fatalistic reasoning is just a cop out. i.e. Everything sucks, everyone dies, there is no glamour in the world, so "grow up and face reality". I'm afraid you are the one missing the ball here. If people applied logic like yours, we would all be living in caves, and no one would take any pleasure in any form of betterment or career. FYI, I know quite a few people who are actually genuinely happy with their lives and what they do for a living, and are excited to come to work, etc. But they certainly approached life with a different attitude than your post. The world, and your life in it, is what you make of it.

Take a deep breath there law2doc.

Quote: “Everything sucks, everyone dies, there is no glamour in the world”

Did I say anywhere in my post that life sucks, everything sucks and there is no glamour in life? I said there are no glamour’s jobs, not that there is no glamour in life. The problem is that the media portrays certain careers as being glamour’s when they really are not. They are not the same thing. I was simply pointing out that there are drawbacks of every possible career. That is the reality of my post. The person who started this thread was questioning if they are wasting there 20’s. Well, reality shows you that no matter what you do in life, it has its drawbacks and every person questions why they are doing what they are doing and why they are doing it. You took my post as what is the purpose of even living. That is not the meaning of my post.

Quote: “FYI, I know quite a few people who are actually genuinely happy with their lives and what they do for a living, and are excited to come to work, etc.”

Go back to my post and read it again. I said most people dislike what they do for a living. Not all people. If you want to argue about how many people love what they do and how many people dislike what they do for a living, I can bring the stats into the discussion if you want.

There was an interesting article published recently that shows that 51 percent of single Americans (above the age of 18) prefer to be single and are not looking for a soulmate. The article showed that only 19 percent are looking for a soulmate. I find this to be rather interesting.

jonathon said:

There was an interesting article published recently that shows that 51 percent of single Americans (above the age of 18) prefer to be single and are not looking for a soulmate. The article showed that only 19 percent are looking for a soulmate. I find this to be rather interesting.

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I am not surprised. This percentage (51%) may continue to increase in the coming years.

jonathon said:

Go back to my post and read it again. I said most people dislike what they do for a living. Not all people.

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Not true -- you said "most everyone". I still don't agree with your point or your conclusions, but to each his own. And the word I think you are trying to write throughout your post is "glamorous".

jonathon said:

You need to grow up and face reality. This is how I look this topic as a student scientist in genetics. I don’t know the exact numbers, but most everyone dislikes what they do for a living and what they have done with their lives. There are no glamour’s jobs. None what so ever! Every successful person has had to work hard in some fashion and all jobs, careers, and life styles have their flaws. Be it in-depth thinking every day, working as a laborer, an NFL coach living a life of constant high anxiety, a medical student thinking they are a waste of interacting molecules while studying anatomy at a library at 11:00 pm, an actress coming to reality that there career is coming to an end and then getting fat, a race car driver knowing he/she can be killed in a split second when going 195 miles per hour with 400 horse powers sitting only a couple of feet in front them, a coal miner who can get a deadly illness, a stay at home mom who can developed Alzheimer’s, a scientists worry about not getting his next grant proposal funded or his/her next publication submission rejected, a store clerk knowing they have no career advancement opportunities, a manager at a factory firing a non-skilled individual that will struggle to get a new job, a lawyer who has to send people to jail for years and having to see dead people (and other things that can happened to a lawyer), a druggy who is a waste of oxygen and CO production, an athlete who developed a debilitating injury, a teenager or 22 year old that becomes a millionaire and does nothing with the rest of their life besides using up oxygen and farting sulfur into the atmosphere, a priest who really does believe there is no God but still has to preach that there this is a God and that a God does answer prayers just so he/she can have an income, and so many other examples that can be used.

It does not matter what career you have, how you got to the point where you are currently in life, it all comes down to survival.

So what is the purpose of life? Well, there really isn’t one. When you break down living matter, it comes down to the interactions of molecules and the purpose of these molecules interacting with each other.

Click to expand...

You can bust out the doom and gloom all you want, but med school, like most things in life, is what you make of it. A lot of people still have fun in med school and don't worry about wasting their lives by studying all the time. I hope for your sake that you can improve your outlook.