Positive Override!

Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink talks about a couple of states of mind. Positive override vs negative override. Positive Override is where you are generally happy and anything negative is just a fluke that you roll with and Negative is the opposite where you are generally miserable and anything good that happens is just a temporary run of dumb luck that probably will go away.

Today I find myself DEFINITELY in positive override! I won’t overanalyze but I think its a combination of things most important of which is that I am REALLY loving it at Dartmouth these days especially after being back from my “away” rotation at Children’s Hospital of Orange County in California and seeing what it is like in the real world of medicine where interns are too busy to learn and told to spend LESS time with patients to be more efficient and doctors generally are rewarded for efficiency, not critical thought or patient care. The management and rewards system there is definitely messed up!

Contrast that with Dartmouth where we spent a whole day on talking and reflecting about Death and Dying with our Associate Dean who happens to be a practicing oncologist trained at MGH with 30+ years of experience talking with patients. And today got to watch Hillary Clinton come to DHMC and give an excellent talk on healthcare (btw, I think she won my confidence today for candidate most informed and capable on improving healthcare in this country). Then proceeded to interview a former drug user who has turned her life around as part of our substance abuse discussion today. Btw, I think I am going to be really good at psychiatry.

Anyway, besides that, I am really happy to be around my classmates and friends who love and support me. Just found out that one (and probably another one) of my classmates is sticking around for an extra year and will probably be graduating with Jane and I which will be great!

Today I feel like I am learning, growing as a person and feeling very happy with my life and relationships. Its a great feeling!

Hope everyone else is doing well too!