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| A Letter to my Future Self |
During medical school orientation week four years ago, the
staff had each of us write letters to our future graduating selves. They held
onto these sealed letters, and on the first day of graduation week, the staff
gave them back to us. My letter was super uplifting and made me smile. I even
loved my super positive outlook on surgery back then, and how I knew that
despite how match would go, surgery would remain my passion to this very day. Since
I didn’t write anything too personal or crazy about myself, I figured I would
share. Dated 8/15/14, it reads:
Hey Dr. Ward,
Guess what? You’ve made it! You finally accomplished your dreams of
becoming a doctor and you are now on the way to the residency of your dreams.
Despite the many obstacles you faced including raising a young child throughout
school, you persevered and didn’t let anything stop you. I am so proud of you!
Tiana is proud of you too, and she appreciates the sacrifices you made to get
to this point and raise her to be the most independent and strong-willed
pre-teenager that she has become.
At the time of this letter, you feared you would fail and disappoint
those who believed in you. Med school was probably one of the hardest things
that you have ever done in your life and you survived! You are now on your way
to becoming one of the world’s best surgeons, and hopefully you matched into an
amazing plastic surgery program that will take you far. If you changed your
mind on plastics, I know you are still going into surgery regardless of the
specialty and YOU WILL BE GREAT! I love you and take the time to enjoy this
moment, because another long hard road lies ahead. But guess what, you will
succeed and I’m proud of ya!
-Danielle M. Ward
P.S. The cheddar cheese stains
are from that awesome popcorn at orientation! LOL
There you have it! Even though the road ahead will be long
and hard, I look forward to the ride and eventually achieving my goal of
becoming a surgeon. I just might even write another letter to myself before
beginning intern year in a few weeks to see if my outlook has changed a year
from now. Up next, I’ll share highlights from day two of graduation week.
:)
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