reflection

Reflections from 2023: my greatest achievement, travel, work boundaries and modern dating

Amanda Xi

Today’s inane image of the day:

When a beautiful fall weekend presented itself, I went on a roadtrip to Western Massachusetts. All the leaves had already fallen, but it was a beautiful hike nonetheless.

I keep telling myself I will get back into blogging regularly but the words don’t flow the way they used to. The further along in my career I get [and the older I get], the more it seems “risky” to pour my heart and soul out to the internet. Yet, it feels like there is a part of me I am not honoring by being silent. There is also something to be said about the loss of connection to those of you still reading my updates with anticipation and excitement [I appreciate you – I know you’re out there and support my writing endeavors].

This is by no means a declaration of more consistent writing in 2024, but a reflection that this space is an important one that I want to integrate into my life in a more consistent manner again.

A couple years ago in an effort to reflect upon a relationship ending, I started journaling on a regular basis. I’ve actually kept a journal/blog for most of my life, but consistency was never my strong suit. Or perhaps I should say frequency was never my strong suit since I consistently went back to it. Either way, a couple years ago, I picked up journaling and it stuck. As a result, I have my own written words/emotions/thoughts/feelings to reflect upon on an annual basis. As we near the end of 2023, I figured I’d share some the reflections I had from 2023.

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Day 28: Final countdown and 9/11 reflections

Amanda Xi

Today’s inane image of the day:

Thank you S from my TBL group for creating this masterpiece of a brachial plexus, then offering to make color copies for each of us! 

That’s right, I finally mastered the intricacies of the brachial plexus and tucked it away deep in my brain. Although I thought it was a lot to remember, I still don’t understand why Dr. Bee was stressing that we memorize it nearly 3 weeks before the exam… I kind of thought it was something fun and different to focus on after staring at Powerpoint lectures from 8am until midnight last night.

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On maturity

Amanda Xi

One of the most important characteristics in a medical school applicant is their demonstration of maturity. To delve into today’s topic, I opted to check out dictionary.com‘s definition of the word and was sadly met with: “the state of being mature; ripeness” — so apparently we’re all just fruit ready to be eaten by a ravenous being? Being unsatisfied with this definition, I moved to the next one: “full development; perfected condition” — say what?! First off, if one had to achieve this to successfully matriculate at a medical school, we’d all be, well, screwed. In my mind, no one will ever be fully developed mentally because there is always more growing and learning to be done — yet there are a number of people who I’d call mature. Second, perfected is such a limited word — it invokes images of something pristine, immaculate and incredible. While I’d happily use the terms pristine, immaculate and incredible when discussing my medical school peers, the word perfected also implies the absence of mistakes. And while there are ways to perfect one’s technique, no one person is perfect. In fact, much of maturity is built from the post-mistake-reflection-period.

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