Change

Today is the deadline for 4th year medical students to certify their rank lists. I'm sure the anxiety level is incredibly high across the country as we wrap up our part in the doctor draft.

My rank list is nothing like I would have imagined it to be a year ago. It is bold and there is nothing safe about it.

I keep thinking about Mark Buchanan's book "Your God is Too Safe" that I read a few years ago. The phrase used repeatedly throughout the book is from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe when Susan asked about Aslan (the God figure), "Is he quite safe?" Mr. Beaver responded, "Safe? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King I tell you."

I never want to shy away from change or risk out of fear. If I look back on my life to this point it is the moments of risk that have shaped who I am and what I am about. My first trip to India with complete strangers was scary yet I saw on that trip enough to remind me of why I am becoming a surgeon on even the hardest days. Choosing a more expensive college where I didn't have any friends was hard, but I knew I needed to be at Taylor and those four years were pivotal in figuring out who I am and what I believe (and I graduated with some incredible friends!). Getting on a plane to head to India all by myself was terrifying and yet those two months have been one of the defining points in my life.

Here are a few quotes that have been encouraging/challenging to me.

"Unless you are prepared to give up something valuable you will never be able to truly change at all, because you'll be forever in the control of things you can't give up."— Andy Law

"Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become."

"Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely."