is "delayed gratification" a hoax?

[PostCall]

you know how the story goes: when you're a premed they tell u it'll be worth it once u make it to med school, once you're a MS1/2 they tell you that you'll like clinical rotations way better than the book stuff, once you're doing rotations they tell you it's all about residency anyway, when you start residency they tell you internship is the worst year and things get much better as you go up the residency ladder, when you're in your later residency years they tell you just get through residency so you can finally "make it" as an attending...

thing is most attendings i have interacted with aren't all that happy. at least usually not happier than the residents and med students around them. they got their stable, six figure career but they ain't what i'd call happy. maybe content that they made it, but not necessarily looking forward to get out of bed in the morning to show up at the hospital/clinic. kind of puts a damper on the whole "delayed gratification" mantra.

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[exPCM]

You are correct. There is a physician only website called sermo that is filled with angst among the physicians. After the vote tomorrow (which I believe includes 500 billion in Medicare cuts - Medicare being the prime funding source for GME) I think physician sentiment will worsen as it looks like the bill will pass.

One positive thing in my situation is that I have paid off my student loans and do not need as high an income as someone that needs to service 300K or more in student loan debt. I really feel sorry for new grads with huge debts.

 

[sarcopenia]

...retirement is even better than working life...

...and then death is even better ... umm ... well, maybe more 'peaceful' ... than retirement.

Hmm, if you aren't religious, you'd better find one sometime during retirement ... without a sweet afterlife to look forward to, death could truly suck...

 

[Sneezing]

Congratulations. You have identified the big problem - Unhappiness. You aren't alone though. It is also rampant in people even outside of medicine.

Now that you know you are unhappy, look within and begin to find the answers to how and what will make you happy.

Good luck. Most people fail.

 

[countingdays]

...retirement is even better than working life...

...and then death is even better ... umm ... well, maybe more 'peaceful' ... than retirement.

Hmm, if you aren't religious, you'd better find one sometime during retirement ... without a sweet afterlife to look forward to, death could truly suck...

What logic! So people's beliefs about the afterlife make it the reality? If your mind has that kind of power can you please believe all my debt away?

 

[Dr.LeoSpaceman]

you know how the story goes: when you're a premed they tell u it'll be worth it once u make it to med school, once you're a MS1/2 they tell you that you'll like clinical rotations way better than the book stuff, once you're doing rotations they tell you it's all about residency anyway, when you start residency they tell you internship is the worst year and things get much better as you go up the residency ladder, when you're in your later residency years they tell you just get through residency so you can finally "make it" as an attending...

thing is most attendings i have interacted with aren't all that happy. at least usually not happier than the residents and med students around them. they got their stable, six figure career but they ain't what i'd call happy. maybe content that they made it, but not necessarily looking forward to get out of bed in the morning to show up at the hospital/clinic. kind of puts a damper on the whole "delayed gratification" mantra.

In the sense you are talking about it, it certainly is. You need to be able to find something you enjoy about what you're doing at every step, otherwise you're going to run into trouble. Because as you said, you're just going to spend your entire life waiting for "the next step". If you're waiting for something to click and make everything great, you'll likely be waiting a long time.

Where I think delayed gratification does hold true, however, is that at each step life generally becomes more interesting, you might have a bit more freedom to choose what you want to do, etc. With that comes more responsibility (and more stress), but that shouldn't be a surprise.

 

[Law2Doc]

you know how the story goes: when you're a premed they tell u it'll be worth it once u make it to ...

Who are "they" and why are you listening to them. Seriously, the folks who enjoy this path are going to be happier the further along they are, and the folks who don't enjoy this path aren't. Medicine isn't for everyone. If it's a bad fit now, it can be worse later, when you can't at least justify the negatives as training related. You need to research this kind of stuff before you start, not rely on folks telling you "it will get better". For some it will. for you, apparently not. It's an individual result, not a global one. So you need to know you, and not rely on all these "they saids".

 

[PostCall]

Who are "they" and why are you listening to them. Seriously, the folks who enjoy this path are going to be happier the further along they are, and the folks who don't enjoy this path aren't. Medicine isn't for everyone. If it's a bad fit now, it can be worse later, when you can't at least justify the negatives as training related. You need to research this kind of stuff before you start, not rely on folks telling you "it will get better". For some it will. for you, apparently not. It's an individual result, not a global one. So you need to know you, and not rely on all these "they saids".

get real man, no teenage/early 20s premed knows what this career really involves until they are well into the game and thousands in debt. you listen to them because they went before u and that's the only people most premeds/med students have for advice. "they" may be upper classmen, residents, or attendings (which should have been obvious in my first post for anybody who's gone through med school).

they say it will get better (delayed gratification) every step u move up and u keep going hoping it's true. but for a lot of people when they get more towards the end goal they realize it was just a ruse to keep them going...like a carrot at the end of the stick. by that time they're stuck. game over. thanks for playing. good luck finding another job that will realistically pay off the $250K debt u got shackled with during undergrad+med school as you were being ridden like a pack mule with that carrot hanging out in front to keep you plodding along this well worn path. so u wake up every morning before dawn, put on your cute little white coat (hey now u get to wear a longer one to show some authoritaaay!), and march into McHospital like a good little cog in the well oiled machinery.

 

[Law2Doc]

get real man, no teenage/early 20s premed knows what this career really involves until they are well into the game and thousands in debt. ...

Nobody said rush into this as a teenager. Heck a lot of folks don't take this plunge until much later in the game.

But now that you are in, the question is do you want to stay in. Start figuring out that which you should have figured out before you started -- is this path for you? If not, make a change. If it is, then find some enjoyment in it and stop hoping it will get better.

 

[sarcopenia]

...just the endless journey.

As alluded to above in several different ways, each new "level" is just "different" ... better in some ways, worse in others, a new chapter in the book of your life.

Although there is benefit to "deferred gratification" in terms of say, saving your money, surviving boot camp, maybe delivering a baby without an epidural or something... if you don't at least SOMEWHAT enjoy your life at each stage, you really shouldn't be taking that path.

What happens if you get into a challenging but fulfilling residency (e.g. neurosurgery) and then get terminal cancer or something right before you are "all done" and ready to start making some serious coin?

There was a girl in my medical school class who had MS. I'm not sure how long she had it, but some of us noticed her limping in 3rd and 4th year for weeks at a time, missing a lot of classes, etc. She ended up going into family medicine residency. What are the chances of her making it through residency and then practising for any appreciable length of time? It's pretty grim. It would almost be easier to just get hit by a bus ... just like the anticipation of something good is often better than what you are expecting, the anticipation of something bad is often worse than what you are expecting. Imagine going through internship / residency just KNOWING that your future held debility / death / poverty?

Some people don't even have a light at the end of the tunnel (even a fake light, non-complete spectrum seasonal affectiveness exacerbating light is better than no light). Her tunnel has darkness at the end. The only light is coming from behind her, and it fades to blackness very quickly in front of her.

Just like the ?marines? say, "The only easy day is yesterday."

 

[Superfrost]

Try to balance the here and now with the future.

 

[doctorFred]

so u wake up every morning before dawn, put on your cute little white coat (hey now u get to wear a longer one to show some authoritaaay!), and march into McHospital like a good little cog in the well oiled machinery.

ok dude. way to rage against the machine.