Reflections of a Doctor: 002

This time on loneliness, greatness and community.

In their book, “The Courage To Be Disliked”, Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga write:

Loneliness is having other people and society and community around you, and having a deep sense of being excluded from them. To feel lonely, we need other people. That is to say, it is only in social contexts that a person becomes an ‘individual’.

It so easily gives voice to something i’ve been mulling over: the road less travelled, or the less trodden path.

The straight and narrow. 

Old and new-school philosophy, fables, stories by the fireside, narratives about the world’s greats - all share a common theme. That loneliness is a requirement for greatness. That there are seasons in our lives, in this dimension, that call for living and walking differently to everyone else at some point or the other. 

This brings a new dimension to how I understand my own path as a Doctor. I’m fascinated by the choice my colleagues and I myself have made, often while still adolescents, to naively pursue a career that eventually sets us apart from the ‘status quo’ in every way, internal + external. The traumas we see separate us. The demands on our brains, emotions, + physical bodies differentiate us. Our training distinguishes us. Our sacrifices - friendships, health, relationships, hobbies, money, time - change us. And quite suddenly, if we do not craft and sustain our circles of community with intention, we become an island. Maybe beautiful and sandy, making peace with the waves on its shores. But unless we actively search for and cultivate meaning in our lives outside of ourselves and our work, we are still - essentially - an island. This extends to healthcare workers in general, I think.

Looking back at this video I took of a man walking alone on a beautiful beach in Ghana, moved me. He doesn’t look lonely and yet he is. Surrounded by beauty, driven towards a purpose, lonely yet great.

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☁️ A question for you, regardless of your industry: what does community look like to you? And what are ways you have managed to build yours?

Let me know, I would love to hear from you.

In light,

Sanaa