The principles behind Korean Taekwondo and Indian Chess have one thing in common. They both challenge the mind. While taekwondo is physically demanding, it requires careful coordination between the mind and the body. Growing up in Uzbekistan, a state under the former Soviet Union, I started taekwondo and chess at the age of 5. Both activities required tremendous concentration and extensive training. The early start and continued focus paid off as I achieved a black belt 3rd degree and a chess Master title in a few years. At that early age I often wondered how the human body could endure so much pain and pressure and yet be so resilient. This curiosity started planting the seeds of a future career in medicine. I needed to know the answers
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On short notice my family had to abandon our home. We moved to Moscow. Not the safest place in the world, but safety was a relative word to us those days. It was about survival. The Russian authorities refused to give us any official status. We were, in effect, stateless people. After two tumultuous years, we finally migrated to the United States which accepted us as refugees. A new chapter in our lives began. But we were now in “the land of the free”. I could dream again. I did. I was already used to hard work and struggle. We overcame the language barrier. My parents took odd jobs, sometimes working in night shifts. We were determined to make it. The hardship years taught me resiliency, the adaptability to new conditions, and the need to be flexible. Circumstances had already started preparing me for the challenges of medical …show more content…
I started by volunteering at Johnston-Willis Hospital. It was a modest start and covered duties at the reception desk and clean up of patient rooms. One day, while cleaning a patient’s room, I overheard a little boy crying in the adjacent room. I walked over and seeing him alone, I tried to amuse him by blowing in my latex gloves as if it were a balloon. I asked him a few riddles. Soon he was talkative and distracted from his pain. The next day I happened to be around when he was being discharged. He walked up to me, gave me a hug and said “thank you”. I felt I had made a difference in someone’s life, albeit small. It was an uplifting moment for
On short notice my family had to abandon our home. We moved to Moscow. Not the safest place in the world, but safety was a relative word to us those days. It was about survival. The Russian authorities refused to give us any official status. We were, in effect, stateless people. After two tumultuous years, we finally migrated to the United States which accepted us as refugees. A new chapter in our lives began. But we were now in “the land of the free”. I could dream again. I did. I was already used to hard work and struggle. We overcame the language barrier. My parents took odd jobs, sometimes working in night shifts. We were determined to make it. The hardship years taught me resiliency, the adaptability to new conditions, and the need to be flexible. Circumstances had already started preparing me for the challenges of medical …show more content…
I started by volunteering at Johnston-Willis Hospital. It was a modest start and covered duties at the reception desk and clean up of patient rooms. One day, while cleaning a patient’s room, I overheard a little boy crying in the adjacent room. I walked over and seeing him alone, I tried to amuse him by blowing in my latex gloves as if it were a balloon. I asked him a few riddles. Soon he was talkative and distracted from his pain. The next day I happened to be around when he was being discharged. He walked up to me, gave me a hug and said “thank you”. I felt I had made a difference in someone’s life, albeit small. It was an uplifting moment for