Medical school is tough. Yes, there is a lot of memorization and tests involved. Yes, it is stressful at times and we sometimes wonder if we made the right choice to go into medicine.
We all need to keep the end goal in mind: We are pursuing medicine for a higher purpose than ourselves. We are going into medicine because it is our calling in life to use the skills and abilities we have been given to improve the health of mankind. My favorite quote that summarizes this is in my signature: "Opportunities to make someone else'e life better [are] so much more attractive to me than the though of the comforts I once knew" -Katie Davis (she has written a great autobiography that talks more about this). When you see the drastic physical and spiritual needs of people around the world who need medical care, and you realize that you have the opportunity to make a difference in their lives, that motivates me to pursue medicine despite all of the negative side effects (tests, stress, long hours...).
Happiness depends on how you see the situation. I have seen people in poverty in third world nations live happier lives than people living in wealth in the US. When you see the poverty that almost 1/2 of this world lives in, and you realize that you were gifted to be born in a rich nation like the US with wealth and opportunity, it gives you perspective on how good we have it here. Yet we are complaining about hard work and stress, when we are not struggling to survive day to day.
Happiness for a physician comes from knowing that you made a difference in someone's life that otherwise would have not have been improved if not for you. I want the feeling of satisfaction of knowing that I am using my skills and talents to improve the physical, emotional, and spiritual health of poor people living in need. This is where my happiness comes from, and what drives me to pursue medicine despite all of the disadvantages. For the OP, this is my best advice for looking at the life of a doctor and how you can live a happy career.
