Look for Inspiration. ALWAYS!

Most of the time, I am a very optimistic person. MOST OF THE TIME. Meaning there are times when I do feel negativity creeping into my soul and those are the days when I feel demotivated and helpless. This is normal I suppose. Everyone has bad days and good days after all.

When I feel down, I always tend to look for inspiration to help me up. I believe that inspiration can be found ANYWHERE. It can be from your own memories of the things you have achieved so far or the people who you look up to in your lives. Or you can think about great leaders who inspire you. Recently, I read the autobiography of Mr Mandela, 'Long Walk To Freedom' and I felt so much of awe while reading it because I used to think I have troubles but compared to what he went through, mine was almost non-existent. So you can definitely find inspiration in good books too. 

As medical students, we are required to attend ward rounds and in certain departments, we'll have to present cases. In other departments, the consultant or specialist might engage with the students by asking questions pertaining to a case and most of the time, we will get scolded because there is always one question that we wouldn't know the answer to. During these times, it is exceptionally difficult to go for ward rounds and I will have this tiny voice inside my head saying, 'Hey it is just for one day and you aren't going to miss much. So let's just skip this one.' Believe me, that voice is a powerful one and a few times it did succeed in tempting me to skip classes to my UTMOST REGRET. But I have this method of ignoring that voice. Which is again, LOOKING FOR INSPIRATION. My inspiration has always been the very dedicated and diligent doctors who worked at the teaching hospital I used to go. There's one specialist who used to start his ward rounds at 6.30 a.m and it'll go on for about 3 hours because he pays that much attention to each and every patient while at the same time, conducting Q&A sessions with us students. I used to have a very huge crush on him. Still do. I used to think that if he could do it, I should be able to do it too. It helped me not only for that posting but throughout the year, I was able to go early to wards even when it wasn't compulsory just so that I could learn more from patients and doctors. 

Another method that I usually apply to inspire myself is to think about the aftermath of achieving something great from doing hard work. The simple logic: Hard work = Progress = Achievement = Happiness. So think about the progress you are going to make by putting in effort and how happy you are going to be after achieving your goals. That would definitely be a great push for you to work harder and go further in life. 

In the movie, 'INVICTUS' (A movie that every single one of you SHOULD WATCH regardless of whether or not you need some inspiration.), Morgan Freeman who played the character of Mr Mandela himself recites a beautiful and meaningful poem. This poem was Mr Mandela's source of inspiration when he was incarcerated at Robben Island prison for 27 years. Though just a poem on a piece of paper, it kept him going and when he was released, he came out STRONGER and became South Africa's first black president in 1994. 

So you see, you can find inspiration anywhere. You just have to really look for it! 

I AM THE MASTER OF MY FATE. I AM THE CAPTAIN OF MY SOUL.