Having watched my good friend Haidak, or Dr. Haidak I should say, go through the trials and tribulations of becoming a doctor, I can honestly say that it is not something that I would ever wish to do. Having said that there are thousands of young, promising students out there who would love to train to be a doctor and give their lives to this profession. Having seen this experience first hand, I realize that there is more to expect about studying to be a doctor and actually being a doctor than many will have you believe.
No Sleep
There has been no secret made of the sheer amount of hard work which medical students must put in to gain their medical license, but the hard work doesn’t stop there. Once you have actually become a doctor you can expect to work an insane number of hours and forgoing sleep on a daily basis. Haidak often tells me about how tired he gets and the lengths which he’ll go to just to get a couple of minutes of bonus sleep.
Get Rich….
Doctors are paid very well for what they do but much of the higher salaries come with experience, so you cannot expect to be earning a big salary in the first 5 years of your career. During these times you will not be rich, in fact you may never get rich, a common myth about this medical position. Being paid well is one thing, but this will only happen when you move up through the career ladder, for much of your career you can expect to make enough to get by.
Cancel Your Life
The divorce rates amongst doctors is alarmingly high and much of this comes down to simply not having the time to be a good husband or wife. Haidak has told me so many stories about doctors who have been forced to cancel their honeymoon, let down friends and family on special events and this career really does come with an enormous amount of personal sacrifice. It is not just the hours that you work which will affect this, but also the fact that when you do get home, the last thing you will want to do is go out to an event.
Rewarding
Despite all of this personal sacrifice and hard work, my buddy said that he wouldn’t swap what he does for anything in the world. His reasons for saying this are that he finds his job incredibly rewarding and for every life he has improved or saved, those are the moments when he knows that it has all been worthwhile. Sometimes it’ll be small moments like a thank you from a family member or the saving of a young life, and at that point every effort which he has put into his job pales into insignificance.
If you have what it takes then this is going to be a hard career, but one which you will be very proud to have taken on.
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