Halfway through the year7 mins read

Happy new month!!! I can still say that right?, even though we’re at the end of the first week already. Welcome to July and the rest of 2019!

I decided to write a post on how my year has been, majorly as a way of checking in on myself and how the year has gone so far. If I were to score myself based on my set goals this year, I’d give me 1.5/10 now. I’ve slacked a lot but one thing I haven’t done is completely giving up on them.

I’m also being deliberate about not waiting for a new year to reassess myself and set goals. Every new day is an opportunity to work on being better, you really don’t have to wait for a new year.

I’d be sharing 6 things that I’ve done/have happened during the first 6 months of 2019. Compiling this post helped me realise how a lot can happen in such a short while. It really feels like eons ago when we started this year.

Let’s get right into it. Since the start of this year, I’ve:

Started this blog

One of the things I planned to do more this year was share my writings. Initial plan was to share on my medium page. During a brief social media detox in January, I somehow decided to start a blog instead.

It’s something I’ve always wanted to do but stayed away from because I wasn’t really sure what I should share and how much. I also had the ‘who will read it?’ question hanging around in my head. I’m glad that I took the plunge and started anyway.

Since starting, I’ve gotten pleasant comments about my posts but in the comment section and other platforms. It’s been inspiring and makes me happy every single time. It never gets old.

It’s great to have a space as this to share my thoughts and experiences.

Moved ahead in my housemanship

This year I’ve completed the first posting in my housejob year, finished the second one and I’m rounding up my 3rd posting as at the time. It’s been a good year so far in terms of work and I’ve changed hospitals once. It’s not typical to switch hospitals in the middle of the housejob year, but i did and I explained the how and why in this post here.

Working as a doctor in a developing country such as Nigeria has been really trying and there are so many things wrong with too few people ready to change the status quo.

It gets frustrating sometimes but there definitely are good moments. Seeing patients get better and patients showing appreciation for proper explanation of their condition among other things. I’ve had my fair share of scares in the course of work. I got to perform a ceaserean section as the lead surgeon during my obstetrics posting and I loved it!

About 2 months ago, I had an experience that made me realize how dedicated one must be in the medical profession to truly deliver and be a good doctor. I was pretty shaken when it happened and I wrote about the experience here. I’m thankful for it though, as it helped me think more deeply about clinical medicine as a career option.

I’m also thankful that a good number of the doctors (fellow HOs and senior colleagues) have been pleasant and I’ve found friends with some. I’ve heard some people’s experiences and it really sounds foreign. I hope it stays that way. I have about 14 weeks left to finish up the year (time really does fly. Haha!) and I hope to make the best of it.

Read some books

On my goodreads page, I set a goal of 30 books to read this year; I didn’t want to push myself too much in that regard given how busy being a house officer can get. I’ve been a bit inconsistent with updating my progress on there but I’d do that just before publishing this post so that you can get a look of what I’ve read this year (plus some reviews). I considered starting a review section on this space and even posted one here but I’m not sure yet if I’ll go ahead with it.

So far, I’ve started about 20 books this year including fiction and non-fiction ranging from biographies to self development and finance books. Of that number, I’ve successfully completed 9 books (not including the ones I feel like I have completed because I have either schemed through or gotten the gist of the book). I don’t believe in forcing a book, no matter the hype. If I’m not feeling it, I drop it and pick it again in some weeks/months/years.

Books that have stood out for me this year are: The Course of Love by Alain De Button which was sent to me by a friend. It gives a take on other side of love following the ‘happily ever after’ ending romance movies and fairy tales give. It was very different from other books on relationships that I’ve read and I got to see things in a different light. An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma also left me with some thoughts. I’d started it before when it was read in my book club but I picked it up again when this great guy, Oyor Okonkwor, got nominated in a competition based on an excerpt from the book. It’s a fictional novel which I’d summarize as a sad story detailing how love can turn ugly. I read shortly after the course of love so I guess that had some effect too.

It wasn’t all love and romance for me in my reading though. The richest man in Babylon by George S. Clason is one book I’ve always wanted to read and finally got to. It’s a novel-like book which teaches about personal finance using stories. It’s a really old book but the lessons in there are ageless. Some reviews mention that most finance books are based on one or 2 principles from the book. It’s really short and I think everyone should read it. I’d be having a blog series next month based on lessons from the book so be on the look out. You can subscribe to this blog so that you can get notified once the post comes up.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell was also a great read for me this year as it made me realize once again that success is hardly ever accidental. I’m currently reading The Tipping Point by same author and it’s been a good but tedious read so far. I have a reading partner on this and we pick certain chapters to read and discuss once a week which has made reading it more fun.

You can view the rest of my reading list on my goodreads page, also please drop some reading recommendations in the comment section below. Merci beaucoup!

Explored

One of the things on my to do list this year was to travel (read explore) more. Seeing as I have a full-time job which doesn’t exactly come with benefits of international (or even national) travels, this hasn’t been easy. Most of my travels this year have even shuttling between Lagos and Ondo states. I also visited Eastern Nigerian sometime this year.

Luckily for me, I was able to explore a bit sometime last month when I visited Erin-Ijesha waterfalls and that was fun. I wrote about that experience here.

I hope to travel more in this half of the year and I’m working towards it.

Got rejected

Soooo… This one actually hurt and writing about it made my chest tight once again. I applied for something internationally and really really thought I’d get in; my confidence level was actually really up there. Looking back now, I’m not really sure why I was that confident seeing as there were about 8,000 other international applicants. I don’t think I should have been any less optimistic though.

One thing I learnt from that experience was to do what I have to do without stalling or waiting for something to click. In a way, I was stalling on some other things I had to do because I was waiting for that to click. Going forward, I wouldn’t be like that anymore. As long as it’s in my power, I’d not stall for anything.

One thing I know I’ve done a lot this year is looking forward to things in the future and not taking enough time to live in the present. I hope to curb that moving forward and live in the now more. It’s not so easy though, but I’m doing my best.

Learnt, unlearnt, relearnt.

This year has also been filled with a lot of learning, unlearning and relearning. I’ve been a bit more introspective this year than the previous years, add that to reading more books and also being on twitter where people are constantly bickering. I’ve intentionally exposed myself to being a student of life in order to be a better me, for me and those around me.

I think the hardest of this trio is the unlearning part but once I realised that humans are imperfect and I can’t always be right, I’ve decided to be more open (but deliberate) to things that challenge my stance. It has also helped me to know myself more. Learning is a lifelong process and I hope to always be willing to learn.

There you have it folks. That’s a summary of the first half of 2019 for me.

How has 2019 been for you so far? Do share in the comments section below.

xOxO,

Sisikunmi.