Friends For Life!
I once heard that true friends were made in hospital wards and in med school….and boy were they right! When I moved to Indy, I moved by myself; no family, no friends, a city where I did not know anything about and knew no one. In fact, I did not even know where the state of Indiana was. I had heard about IU Med but other than that I was a little scared about being alone in a city so far away from home. Nonetheless, I met these two guys, Micheal and Andrew, who I now consider to be my brothers from another mother hehe. We all met even before school started first year back in 2014 (geesh that sound’s like it was yesterday and it has already been almost two years). We volunteered at the annual volunteer day during the week of orientation and boom! We have been best friends since that day.
Andrew has been my study partner as well. Before medical school, I always used to study alone and did things alone, but once I got here, I knew things would be different. Medical school has been an interesting ordeal when it comes to studying and Andrew has been my motivator and partner in crime while Mike has been supporter and my to go person when I panic hehehe. Mike usually likes to study by himself but we constantly text each other every other to keep each other on track. Both of these guys are so smart and have been so helpful these past three semester that I feel so grateful God put them in my life. Apart from school, we usually have guy’s night out every now and then (when school actually gives us a break) where we go out, have a drink, discuss life in general, and have a good Cuban cigar. If not, yes you guess it, we can be found getting food and hitting a hookah house afterwards to kill the itis.
I truly feel blessed to have met these guys. Whenever I have felt lost and depress with school, they have jumped to help me renew my mind. When school has ben tough, both mentally and physically, these guys have been there for me and vice versa. I have learned that it is ok to feel overwhelmed, tired, depressed, lost etc., but what really matters is having great friends, or I should say more like family, to be there for you. For example, from my previous post you can probably tell I hated physiology and clinical neurology/neuroscience because they have been just loaded with lectures and the concepts have been hard. Nonetheless, having these guys to push me, motivated me, encourage me, and study with me meant the world. Indeed, I can say I passed those courses because of their help.
Therefore, I can confidently say that as iron sharpens iron, so does a friend sharpens a friend. We will always have a situation when we will not be at our best or feel our best, but having the right people by your side can make a big difference. Bill Gates once said that you need to surround yourself with people who are like you, people with great goals, a great mind, and who push/inspire you to better and I am lucky I have found these guys. There is also a really great bible story about a paralytic man who is in a shed and happens to hear that Jesus was coming to his town. Nonetheless, even though he was encourage to go see Him, he quickly became discourage as he did not know how to get there. As he shared the story with his two friends, they decided to carry him to where Jesus was. But guess what? When they arrived, there was a multitude of people and there was no way they would could carry him in a shed…that was until one of them thought of an idea: they could carry him to the top of the roof, and then lower him in his shed to where Jesus. Long story short, they did it and the man was able to see Jesus and received his miracle.
Therefore, whether you are spiritual or not, the point of this story is having true friends. Here is a paralytic man who shared his dream/desire with his friends and whether they believed he could receive a miracle or not, they supported him, and they did the impossible to help him accomplish his dream. Hence, I encourage you today to sit back and see who your true friends really are. Are they there for you when you need them the most? Do they support your dreams and goals? Remember, a true friend accepts who you are, but also helps you become who you should be!