why not?

“why surgery?”
“why NOT surgery?”

1. it will take over my life.
2. it is a male-dominated field.
3. it is intensely competitive.
4. there is alot of politics involved.
5. it is a long, arduous road to take.
6. i won’t have any time for a relationship or family.
7. i won’t have any energy for my non-medical interests.
8. i can never let my guard down ever again.
9. people will be even more intimidated by me than they already are.

anyone who knows me would know that there is no way i would have decided on a specialty without considering the consequences. i examined my life and understood that if i am single at 27, after 2 years of working as a doctor, it is highly unlikely that moulding my life choices into a more “desirable” curriculum vitae for the position of a girlfriend/wife/mother is going to put the odds in my favour even more than my common sense, humour and ability to cook an elaborately put together pasta meal for 6 people can.

if i were completely honest, it would be different if i were in a serious relationship and my partner decides he wants to be the one to go all out for his career and that i should consider a less demanding specialty in order to have time for the family that is to come. then of course i would think of anaesthetics at most and aesthetics at least, with only maybe family medicine (more demanding than most people think!) and rehab medicine somewhere in between.

but as it turns out, i enjoy surgery and detest medicine and it doesn’t make sense to choose something i have to learn to love again because i am hoping for something that is nowhere near existing. there isn’t a union i would be happy to sacrifice some of my interests for and i don’t have other commitments to consider.

everything in the list above doesn’t factor in anywhere and no one has given me a reason to factor them in anyway. to dismiss surgery, and the life it demands, is to be afraid of losing something that i don’t have.

so why not?