MUSIC and MEDICINE - do they jive? (part 1 of ___)
Many people have asked me how I balance music and med school. I have a few thoughts on the topic but will discuss one here: THE ZONE
In some ways, the world of medicine and the world of music couldn’t be further apart. Med school is extremely structured. Your days are planned and there’s a curriculum you must follow. You need to learn what you are told to learn when you are told to learn it. There’s very little wiggle room. It involves early mornings. You are constantly tested. There’s always a deadline and, at this point in my studies, it’s been very left-brain. Structure. Structure. Structure.
Compare this with the life of your typical musician or artist. Think gigs in bars. Late nights. Loud rooms. An atmosphere where structure is frowned upon. Where convention is torn apart in the name of creativity. When I think of an artist (musical or otherwise) I think of someone who’s constantly creating with very little boundaries. Someone who gains inspiration from the world around them, personal experiences, life… and then turns it into metaphor. Something we can interpret. Right brain. Zero boundaries. Finding a creative zone and losing yourself in it.
The hardest part for me as an artist has been that final statement. How can I allow myself to find THE zone, and lose myself in it, when that often means staying up until 2am until a song is finished… until my fingers hurt too much to keep playing (queue Happy Gilmore joke here). 8:30am class means 8:30am class. Staying up late is usually reserved for studying.
The interesting thing is that the hardest part for me as a medical student is the exact same thing. To learn the amount of information we’re supposed to in the short amount of time that’s allotted, a student must also find a zone. A mental space where you get lost in a language that’s new to you and absorb as much as you possibly can…
So what’s with the pictures? I took these when studying for finals (and found them on my camera about a month later). Typically I’m not one to take random emo shots of myself for no good reason (although it can be fun) but for an entire month I purposefully neglected my geeetar and attempted to shut down every musical bone in my body so that I could focus on studying. It was painful. My reasoning was that I needed to find my study zone… a place that was getting more and more difficult to reach. Although this strategy worked to some extent, these photos are a clear example of the need (for me anyways) to do something artistic to keep my soul, brain and being alive. I spent hours trying to figure out how to create effects with my camera. I never do that. Some call it procrastination. I call it the product of a neglected guitar/voice! It’s like my brain NEEDED and found a creative outlet. It happened subconsciously and presto - emo photos were born. Perhaps this process explains all the hipster shots society makes so much fun of. IT’S OKAY HIPSTERS! I GET IT NOW!
There’s so much more I could say here about the relationship (for me anyways) between these two career choices. For your attention’s sake, I’ll leave it at this for now. Ultimately I think the two careers can be extremely creative and fulfilling – but keep in mind that I’m also pretty green in my journey in both.
So music and medicine - do they jive? Right now I think they can (ask me again during clerkship or residency…)
More eventually,
xag
