What I Had To Sacrifice to Get to Where I am Now

I realized life involves a constant act of making sacrifices in order to obtain something you want. Me writing this post is also an act of sacrifice because I can be hanging out with my friends during this time instead of sitting inside Tim Hortons contemplating on how best to deliver my message. But I love writing these posts so it's all worth it.

Getting into dental school and successfully graduating was obviously no joke. It involved a lot of sacrifices on the way to dental school and while in dental school. The biggest one was obviously the social aspect involving hangouts, parties with friends and family. My mindset at the time was the more time I spent hanging out the more I was distancing myself from success, which is somewhat true. Would I have done anything differently now that I look back? I would say not a whole lot because that sacrifice I made was quite necessary to get me to where I am now. The only thing I may change is the extent to which I have isolated myself.

Another sacrifice was sports. Now it wasn't to the extent as hangouts, but I did cut down a lot on all my sports especially in dental school. This was simply because academics was my top priority and I got most of my exercise out of going to the gym rather than playing tennis, and that sufficed at the time.

Finally, the other sacrifice was my dating life. As someone who was quite fixated on learning and academics, I did not have much desire for dating as much as others, and I also felt as though forcing myself into one wasn't a good idea because I knew I'd be stressed for many different reasons. To be in a relationship requires a lot of time, dedication and effort and I simply wasn't for it given the circumstance.

Now, I want to emphasize that I'm not suggesting these ought to be what you MUST sacrifice in order to succeed. You can definitely succeed while engaging in all of them. In fact some of these may be necessary for your success such as having a supportive partner while in school. But do note that there will be sacrifices in other forms that will become necessary. It really helps if you accept this fact and not overwhelm yourself with all the things you must do in order not to miss out on anything. Learn to let go of some things to achieve the greater things you desire.