Waste Your Time Wisely

I grew up with an unorthodox Orthodox priest. That is to say - he was (is) so strictly adherent to Orthodox living that by today's standards, it's unorthodox. And I love him dearly for it. One of the things I love and appreciate most about my priest is that he has these sayings, his words of wisdom, that he repeats constantly to us in Sunday school and in his Sunday morning sermons. "Love in truth and truth in love," he always says, or "Ma'feesh cell phone fe kenesah! [No cell phones in church!]," or "Odas sa'a tamania! [Liturgy is at 8:00!]"

But my favorite of his, and the one that always plays back in my mind as I grow older, is "Your time is your life. You waste your time, you waste your life."

Your time is your life. You waste your time, you waste your life. Your time is your life.

Never have these words meant so much to me as they do now, in this isolated, surreal five-month block of time that I think of in my head as "Step 1 time," in which I have absolutely no free time at all. (Even writing this blog post is cutting into time I have scheduled to be studying an Infectious Disease lecture...hopefully it's a wise waste of time...). A recently graduated medical student once told me, "You'll never again in your life be able to study for anything the way you are about to study for Step 1." That's how intense the studying gets for this most crucial of licensing exams.

And now that I'm scheduling every precious hour of my life so precisely in order to achieve my end goal, now that every minute must be spent carefully in order to avoid any wasted time, I think back to how much time I wasted before and almost cringe at the remembrance of how much time I have wasted in my life. Did I really spend the summer binge-watching three full seasons of that TV show in one week? How could I have possibly let three months go by last year without opening my Bible just once? What have I been doing with my time? What have I been doing with my life?

No, I'm not having a mid-life crisis. I'm young, naive, bold, idealistic. But now that I can't afford to waste any time for fear of performing poorly on this exam, my eyes have been opened to just how poorly I have been using the time God has granted me in the past 20-odd years. Nothing will bring this time back. And boy, I really hope I never see the day when I am kneeling in front of the Almighty and He asks me, "What have you done with your time? Why did you waste your life?"

My dear friends and readers, never say to yourselves, "I don't have time." YOU HAVE THE TIME. If you are reading this and haven't yet said your daily prayers, GET UP NOW AND DO IT. GO. Close this window and close Facebook and hide your phone under a pillow for ten minutes and GO READ YOUR BIBLE. Don't let one more day go by in bitterness and hurt feelings and just go apologize to that person against whom anger has been festering in your heart. Go be productive and useful to society and expand your mind and learn something about the world. Go to church and sing praises and cry for forgiveness. GO. Don't waste your time. Your time is your life. Don't waste your life. 

"The Road Goes Ever On and On..."

Happy New Year's to all my dear readers!

2015 is not a year I have been looking forward to, primarily because of that monster of an exam, the United States Medical Licensing Exam Step 1 (known affectionately as just "Step 1" and in nightmares as "oh-my-god-oh-my-god-oh-my-god-step 1!!!!") occurring sometime around the mid-year.

This is probably the most important exam of my medical career, as it determines where I will match into residency after medical school. It requires a tremendous amount of preparation and discipline. I have sitting next to me a schedule for every single day of my life from January 1 - Step 1 Exam Date. Everything in my life in that 5-month time period - studying, church services, exercising, break times - is scheduled down to the hour. Gunner life.

So, the next five months will require the greatest amount of sacrifice I have ever been asked to make. I'm freaking out slightly even as I write this post.

Are there any other 2nd year Copts out there who would like to share their horror stories? Ideas for success? Prayers? Cries to the heavens for mercy? Share them in the comments below. And to all my other readers, please show your support with kind comments of encouragement and prayers for yours truly.

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to." I pray to God that I survive to see "white shores, and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise."

And may the Journey begin.