I think I’m at risk of sounding like a broken record, but I don’t believe I’ve ever had the experience of time flying so quickly. Sure, we all know time is relative thanks to Einstein’s genius. But that’s all jargon relating to physics and gravity. We’ve successfully bastardized the term by applying it to all circumstances in which time has been warped in our subjective experience. Hence the colloquialism, “Time flies when you’re having fun.” We all know that time doesn’t actually speed up when we’re experiencing fun; we’re just more engaged in what we’re doing. So really, it’s being engaged in the present, in the task at hand, that truly speeds up our experience of time. And let me tell you, time spent at the clinic has been extremely engaging. Hence, this trimester has simply flown by so far.

We’ve learned a lot leading up to this point. It’s like you’re walking into an appointment with a stack of books. You successfully diagnosis the patient (diagnosis is a strong point in the NUHS curriculum), now all you have to do is to figure out an appropriate treatment, so you turn to the massive pile of books and freeze. It’s a daunting stack. There are so many considerations and no two patients are the same; still, you want to formulate a general approach that mostly works for most patients with the same general diagnosis. This isn’t pharmaceutical-driven therapy; you’re not getting off the hook that easy.

The stack of books is mean-mugging you, taunting you to divine a single treatment plan from the wealth of knowledge and variety of approaches you’ve learned. Needless to say, there’s a learning curve. There’s trial and error — success and failure. This is what time in the clinic is supposed to be about. It’s a time to figure out how you want to practice, what techniques you’re comfortable with, and how you can effectively utilize them. It’s engaging stuff. This is why time has been flying.

Not to mention, every waking moment is consumed with thoughts and strategies about how to approach your future, how to attain success, and how to reach the most patients. Needless to say, busy isn’t always bad. In this case, busy is building your future on your terms. It’s learning to treat patients effectively, efficiently, and with care. Time has flown so far and it’s been a great trimester.