Musings and Meditations

As medical professionals, we're often told that intern year is the most difficult year of medical training. And now that I'm on the other side of intern year, I can whole heartedly agree with that sentiment. Almost one year ago today, I began residency training at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Over the course of the year, I have grown tremendously in ways that I never thought possible. Intern year pushes you to your limits. You spend long hours in the hospital; you're subjected to the most menial administrative tasks (i.e. note writing and requesting outside hospital records); you may doubt yourself as you're constantly reminded by your seniors and attendings that you have so much more to learn. But despite all of this, I know that I have the best job in the world. I'm grateful for the opportunity to care for people during some of the most vulnerable and uncertain points in their lives. Intern year has its challenges, but with those challenges...

I recently came across a letter that I wrote years ago to my "future self." This letter was written in August 2014 on the day of my White Coat Ceremony at Harvard Medical School. I have decided to publish it here as a reminder to myself as I transition to Kia L. Byrd, MD, MPH. Dear Dr. Byrd, It has been four or five years since you've begun this incredible journey of self discovery, trials, tribulations, joy, happiness, anxiety, excitement, and everything in between. I hope that you remember your first couple of days at Harvard Medical School. You were eager to begin this exciting portion of your life, but also apprehensive and uncertain of the future. You often worried, after hearing about the fantastic accomplishments of your classmates, if you had what it took to be a successful student at HMS. At times you felt isolated, overwhelmed, stressed...but after conversations with family and your fellow peers, you knew that eventually you would hit your stride and b...