Adam Bonar

I wake up, head pounding and wildly disoriented. No, I’m not hungover, I am just simply a student in medical school attempting to stay afloat on minimal sleep. I roll out of bed to my 8 am lecture thinking about the material I will have to study for the rest of the day. However, it’ll all be worth it after finally becoming an anesthesiologist. I think about the few hours of free time I might have this weekend that I could use to play some basketball. As odd as it may seem, it was basketball that ingrained the rigorous work ethic in order to survive college and medical school. From early morning workouts to constant suicides, the sport taught me how to keep pushing even when I feel like I can’t anymore, along with the colossal time commitment required of me. 

Sitting in my lecture I long for the better days. The days of fruition. The days that become stress free. But I know that stress will always be there, nagging in the back of my mind like a mosquito in the summer that won’t go away. From carbon levels exponentially rising, overpopulation threatening our resources, water becoming a scarcity, and pandemic a continuous threat, it seems as though the world can end as quickly as the snap of Thanos’ finger. Anxiety, from “end of the world” scenarios to fitting hours of studying into my schedule, I know my mental health is simply not where it should, and needs to be. 

While I constantly stress, whether it be my studies or about uncontrollable existential crises, in the back of my mind sits a glimmer of hope. Hope that maybe our generation can fix the many problems that we still have. Hope that I will finish medical school and accomplish a feat very few attempt to overcome. Hope that in becoming a doctor, with all the negativity this world brings, I can help others lead healthier lives and make their time here just a little bit better.