END OF BST I

Starting out as a BST in emergency medicine was somewhat of a complete and total revolution to me. I left everything I thought I had wanted behind, both a career in neurosurgery and the nomadic life of being on the road.

Starting off, I had many doubts. Would I miss surgery? Had I made the wrong choice by starting my training as an emergency physician? It was always something I liked, but it wasn’t something I had ever seriously considered. So far, though, I had no doubts and no regrets. I was happier than ever with where I was in my professional life. I wouldn’t get to cut people open, though I still sometimes did in the ED, but I would get to do so much more than that. Plus, I’d get to work normal human working hours, or at least normal-ish ones, which allowed me to live my life to the full. I wouldn’t be saying that as a surgical trainee.

I also wondered whether I’d be able to keep up with travelling. I wouldn’t be able to see and do as much as I did when I was travelling full-time, sure, but I would do my best to travel as much as humanly possible. And, I guess, that was a success. In one year, I’d been to Egypt twice, France, Austria, Italy twice, Scotland and the Philippines – seven different trips. That’s unprecedented in my history as a doctor, and in life in general before my gap year.

And I settled my number one doubt: whether I’d be able to keep up the balance and lifestyle I had managed to cultivate over the gap year. My state of mind, the whole “go slow” attitude, and my new hobbies: diving, kayaking, paddleboarding, yoga and whatever else it was that I discovered during that previous year. Over the year, I proved to myself that not only would I be able to keep up with those newfound hobbies, I had also racked up a couple more, including bouldering and freediving.

So, all in all, BST1 was more than a success in my books. And, without too many expectations, I was ready for BST2.