PICK YOURSELF UP AND START ALL OVER !

PICK YOURSELF UP AND START ALL OVER!!!
Have you ever failed before?...well, I have...and these failures are lesser known stories....you see, we have all failed and we will all fail at some point...especially as medical students.

I remember my first 'failure' in preclinicals. It was in my first anatomy dissection practical...I was excited, I always was then and in came the brilliant Dr Ashaolu  to introduce us to anatomy dissection.

Several human bones were placed in front of us that day and we all watched in amazement how these contoured brown sticks were from actual people that lived.

Dr Ashaolu beckoned to my class rep (Titilola) and asked her to point out the best 'student' in class and for some reason, she called two (2) of us and up we stood.

He turned to me, and briskly said- "describe the bone in front of you!"...I went into shock. All I could see was some 'fan shaped bone with a weirdly shaped handle and uneven lines'. I was dumbstruck.

It was the scapula....but I didn't know that. So he called the other guy and he gave a brilliant description of it.

I remember walking back to the hostel that day through that narrow path that links college and male hostel....I was literally beating myself up in my head, livid with myself. In my mind and according to my standards, 'I failed'. "why didn't you read it before the practical?!" I kept asking myself.

Over time the anger eventually resolved and I decided never to enter a class without preparing for it. As little as that issue was now in retrospect, the anger of that day evolved into a potent motivation that still lasts to this day.

So yeah...you will fail at some point, or at least underperform, its the truth of medical school. But how you handle it is important.

Failure (more than the thirst for knowledge) is the easiest of all motivators, especially in medical education in Nigeria. And if it does happen, go through the phases, but don't be defeated by them.

Pick yourself up, make a few tweaks and changes and go on and 'murder' that next incourse or next posting.

And in the end, (as my girlfriend says) "you will be fine, because you have no choice but to be".

- Olawuyi Damilola (A 400 level medical student)