Solitaire

The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will,

and the other from a strong won't.

~Henry Ward Beecher

I was playing solitaire the other night (to take my mind off of studying for the biochemistry test that I have to take in a couple of hours) when I noticed that I wasn't really playing solitare anymore.

In the solitare game that I have, you don't need to click and drag the cards in order to place them on the stack. In other words, if I wanted to take a 3 of hearts from the deck and place it on one of my piles all I had to do was click on it--which is great inasmuch as it is easier, but it can make it so that you don't actually have to know where you want the card to go, the computer will place it on the correct pile if any moves are available. Pretty soon, rather than actually thinking, I was just clicking on each of the cards to see if any moves were possible.


Which got me thinking. How much of my life and the lives of those around me been shaped by the mentality that all that matters is "winning." Not everyone is motivated to come in first, but I think there are alot of people who have fallen into the trap of just trying to get through things. What I mean is that, for many medical students, all they want to do is survive medical school.

It is an easy trap to fall into--and one that I must say I fell into of late. I have subconsciously made many decisions that directed me down the path of "just getting through." Because I thought it would be easier to get up later and stream the lectures (the lectures are recorded on video) I convinced myself that it was "more efficient" because I could watch the lectures at 2x speed. Yet, instead I found that I was doing less studying than I had been doing when I came to lectures everyday. The time that I was saving I wasted because I had adopted the mentality that medical school = passing grades for 4 years.

So to conclude this rambling post, I think it's important to constantly evaluate the motives we have. Are we just trying to "win" at our solitaire games or are we actually taking the time to experience what we are going through and live our lives to the full--no matter how difficult a situation may be.