Member-only story
If You Want To Be Great At Something, Make Sure You’re Happy Doing It
Hating the process is a huge red flag
The Distant Past
When I was a little girl, I would refuse to get an injection at the doctor’s office until my dad closed his liquor store, made his way to the clinic, and wiped my tears.
He would then bribe me with the promise of toys in order to get me to stay relatively still while the clinician did the deed, probably hating her life all the while because she had to deal with a patient like me.
The Kinda Distant Past
When I turned eighteen, nothing had changed really.
I developed a keloid on my upper back, and it needed to get biopsied to check for cancer. I was freaking out. My mom sat in the waiting room with me, still ill-equipped to get me to calm down. She finally caved in and said, “Do you want me to call your dad?”
“Yes,” I replied. A thousand times yes.
As he’d always done, he left work, drove over to the hospital, and sat next to me.
The Point
One could say my history as a patient made it obvious that I wasn’t cut out to be a doctor.
