Member-only story

Surviving the struggle isn’t always a success

Call it capitalism, individualism, or what have you. Our society thrives on your pain. Because people in pain buy things and are less likely to “rebel” and demand respect. This mindset bleeds into multiple facets of life. For example, my career of choice: medicine. Medicine is fueled by participants’ ambition and desperation to achieve their goals. There’s a paywall limiting access to school, educational opportunities, educational materials, exam prep, and exams. An algorithm dictates your future and those that have the funds to get to the finish line usually cross it.

Shame is thrust upon those who don’t want to overwork themselves for a dollar. You’re seen as lazy or unproductive if you’re not exhausted, but then again why is exhaustion the unit of measure? Capitalism wears you down and brings you within an inch of your death then blames you for your poor health and charges you to get better because of a system built to extort you.

Capitalism robs the joy out of life just to charge you to find it again. This can look like admonishing people who are mentally disabled, mentally different, or physically different/disabled for needing help or accommodations to perform at a debilitating high level that even able-minded and able-bodied people struggle with. The unjustified judgment thrown around us plebians is laughable because we are not the problem. Also, who are you trying to impress? What is your why? To what end!? Must we value ourselves so little that we judge and shame those that choose themselves every…

--

--

Signed Out: How my two strokes signed me out of my painstakingly planned medical education
Signed Out: How my two strokes signed me out of my painstakingly planned medical education

Published in Signed Out: How my two strokes signed me out of my painstakingly planned medical education

I had two strokes during medical school. Let’s talk about one and what I learned about life along the way.

AW
AW

Written by AW

I'm a 4th year medical student recovering from two strokes. I'm here navigating my new life & life in general. come follow me! join me! It'll be an adventure!

No responses yet