30 Day challenge: Day 2

from m22+'s flickr photostream

Day 2: Where would you like to be in 10 years time?


I was going to start this post with a fatuous statement about wanting to be a doctor in 10 years time and leave it at that, but then I realised this question is one that has a dozen different angles to it. So I will try and answer it from a few of them.

Career in 10 years time? Well, I would hope that I will be well into my Specialism Training (for the non-Brits in the audience our doctors spend 2-3 year post-qualification on the Foundation Year programme before entering specialist training or the "ST" years. This leads ultimately to the role of Consultant in a specialist field). I don't know now what speciality will take my fancy, but I want it to be one where I make a real difference to as many lives as possible. And one that satisfies my desire to learn and develop skills. And hopefully a speciality that pays enough that I can help support my family and give them as many opportunities as possible.

Location in 10 years time? I've talked with my wife about going back to America (she being an American) - It's something I think would be very exciting and would offer a lot of opportunity to me and would, I think, make her feel more comfortable than living in the UK does. We've also talked about the possibility of moving to Australia or New Zealand - both places I think would be interesting places to live and would have similarities to the UK, but enough differences, too. I'm not really desperate to stay in the UK.

Physically in 10 years? I want to be faster and stronger than I am now. There is a line in Hagakure that states (and I misquote, probably) "a man should gain strength until the age of 50". Now read into that what you will, but it sounds like a pretty good aim to me. I want to run a marathon before I'm forty and work to gain a black belt in a martial art. These seem like reasonable goals to me.

Mentally in 10 years? I want to be happy with all that I have achieved and all that I have planned out. I figure if pursue my goals with good spirit and punch just above my weight, these too should be reasonable goals.

Right, introspection over, my pasta is pretty much done.

Laters~

30 day challenge: Day 1

Estelle Darling over at Word Lust introduced me to this notion and I was looking for a fun way to increase my output here so I thought I'd give it a go.

Day 1: Your current relationship

Mr and Mrs AbsentBabinski

I have been married for the best part of a year now and it has been a lovely development in my relationship. We lived together for a couple of years before we got married and it felt the natural progression and to her credit my wife is one of the major reasons I can pursue my medical career. She has been the bread winner since we started dating and will continue to be so for the next 10 years I suspect. She is also long suffering and knows just the right thing(s) to say when I have my regular "Why did I leave nursing? This is crazy! I should be earning money for us!"

She is my confident, and my best friend. And the person I hope to spend as many years of my life with as I can.

We have totally different tastes in so much, but we make it work. In fact we have the dubious honour of annoying my wife's friends by not arguing about... Anything, really. I think that's why we work, we might have different tastes and views but we respect and love each other.

Someone once told me that when you apologise, you're not admitting you're wrong - you're stating you respect the relationship you have with the other person more than being "right" (whatever that means). And that's what guides me through the harder bits of being married.