Sunday, March 2, 2014

Dimming the Lights and Enjoying the Ordinary



Who's crazier: ancient humans drawing gods they could not see or us medical students diligently drawing molecules that we trust, in faith, exist just as we have been told?

So we are about to start our fifth of six intense weeks of physiology. Despite the pass/fail system at HMS, our class has worked itself up into a bit of a frenzy in its attempt to learn the absurd amount of new material we get each day. Thankfully, everyone was at least able to relax a little bit this weekend after our test on renal and gastrointestinal physiology.

For the biweekly exam, we are given a complicated case at 3:30pm the day before and have to try to understand everything going on with it before we sit down to be tested at 11:30am the next morning. It's crazy to think that even with everyone working together in various groups there is still often mass confusion on some of the more complex aspects of the case. Nonetheless, it is an exciting process to unravel the molecular underpinnings of a man's epic battle with diarrhea and to try to answer terribly specific questions about his electrolyte levels on a one hour exam. I suppose it is good practice for a future in medicine in which even collectively we do not always know the answers.

To say the least, in extremely busy times, I've found it's definitely hard to find the hours, energy and resources to do much of anything too exciting. Mental health begins to bank ever more on staying connected with friends and extracting the  little bit of juice that you can out of life's everyday events. On that note, here's a fairly ordinary study that -- even if not too rigorous scientifically -- I found somewhat relevant to getting through these monotonous, intense, but perhaps as I will someday view them, wonderful times...

In short, the authors found that ordinary experiences may make us happier as we get older. Reflecting on life events, younger people put much more value on the extraordinary, whereas the elderly take greater satisfaction in everyday happenings.

"Younger people, who view their future as extensive, gain more happiness from extraordinary experiences; however, ordinary experiences become increasingly associated with happiness as people get older, such that they produce as much happiness as extraordinary experiences when individuals have limited time remaining. Self-definition drives these effects: although extraordinary experiences are self-defining throughout one’s life span, as people get older they increasingly define themselves by the ordinary experiences that comprise their daily lives."
-- JCR: Happiness from Ordinary and Extraordinary Experiences

I want to continue to try to enjoy the little things as much as possible, like getting my coffee and daily smile from Francene, the beautiful motherly cafe-worker who knows us all by name, personality, and preferred coffee size. No reason to wait until I am old to cherish everyday rituals like these. Onward we go.

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