My little sister's AIM away message is "Hooray for massages and underwear". Should I be worried?? Probably not. She really isn't so little, turned 20 (OMG!!) in October. Geez, that makes me 23.
Being 23 is alright. What is a slightly disturbing thought for me is that so many of my friends and peers are a much, much older 23 than I am. We all started out even at the starting line after graduating from college, but as I look ahead, I realize that I will fall farther and farther behind in the race to adulthood. One of my good friends got married last July, has a home, a steady income, and is on her way to having a son sometime this spring. My single status is a whole other "mixed bag of worms" (as Mrs. C would say), so, ignoring the fact that marriage and babies are not part of my foreseeable future, it will be a minimum of 7 or 8 more years before I will be looking at a steady income. And that will put me at 30. 30 before I am a financially-independent adult!
Example Case:
S: A.M., a 30 yo female with a past history significant for a BS in biology and 10 years of post-graduate education presents with only one additional degree and a lingering dependence on her parents. While A.M. does not still live at home, she requires significant financial support, her love-life is dismal, and she is still on her family cell phone plan.
O: A.M. appears slightly haggard, but in no acute distress.
A: Patient presents with chronic inability to move forward in life. Given her biology degree and past educational success, medical school is a likely diagnosis. PhD training is possible due to the presentation with some financial difficulty, but the extremely lengthy course makes this less likely. MD-PhD training also possible, but would amazingly show an even lengthier course of lingering life immaturity. It is unlikely that A.M. pays her bills, owns her home, has a job, is part of a stable relationship, or is considered traditionally successful.
People pat you on the back, congratulate you for entering this supposedly elite medical field, tell you how proud they are, but what they don't realize is that you are sentenced to be 10 years behind your peers. No wonder physicians are well paid-- besides the extra years of very expensive schooling and accumulation of debt, they also are that many years behind in bringing in money. Our black (should be red really) hole is twice as deep.
P: Remind A.M. that she was (and still is) not ready for marriage, family, and "Honey, I'm home," and that was one of the reasons she chose medical school in the first place. Ensure her that she will love her job when she finally gets there someday.
(*S= Subjective; O= Objective; A= Assessment; P= Plan-- the traditional way to write up a clinical case)
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2 comments:
Brilliant! I would tell you that you should drop out of school and be a writer but I'm having flashbacks to author talks where the author is 40 but has the emotional intellect of a 20 year old. Someday you'll be a grown up and you already act more mature than most of the people I know :) Keep your chin up!
How do you know that you shouldn't be worried about my away message? *nudge nudge wink wink*
Hey old thing! Just kidding - we're both old, though supposedly you're only as old as you feel. That places me at about twelve.
As far as being behind your peers, you are probably the most mature (when necessary) and well-balanced person I know. If you're behind, I'm totally screwed! At risk of having you get pissed at me for trying to give you advice, I would say not to worry about it. You are far better off than you give yourself credit for.
Love you lots, and I can't wait until you get home!
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