Entering the Zone: Living Every Day with Serious Purpose

After a period of adjustment, my routine at school has finally settled. I leave campus for home on Friday and return Sunday evening, then stay on campus without leaving the gate for a whole week. I rise at six every morning, run for half an hour, eat breakfast, and recite vocabulary in a pavilion downstairs from the dorm until about seven-thirty, then head to the classroom to begin the day's classes or self-study. The daily timetable has ten periods, each 45 minutes, with two evening periods for self-study. The rest of the time may or may not have scheduled classes, but with or without classes, these ten periods are fully and productively used.

The midday break is two and a half hours, dinner time one and a half hours, and classes end at 9:10 p.m., so although there seem to be many periods, rest and exercise time are ample. During dinner I go play ball. One hour for lunch, one hour for a midday nap, leaving an extra hour at noon to do my own work in the library.

With every day packed full, I have no spare mental energy to care about all the outside affairs that have little to do with me. Since I am here, I will make the best of it; I came to study clinical medicine. So I will not dwell on whether studying is meaningful, whether clinical medicine works, or which of Chinese and Western medicine is superior; for a middle-aged man of forty-six, any further emotional restlessness would be ridiculous.

Back at school, I have returned to the state I had in high school: maintaining high focus to complete my studies, unaffected by any outside factor, concentrating solely on professional study. Distracting oneself with other things during study is a failure to value one's own life. Before coming to school I had fully demonstrated the feasibility and necessity of this journey; once at school there is no need to keep second-guessing.

The professional-course teachers I have met are all good. Yesterday in anatomy lab I met an anatomy lab teacher with clear thinking, serious and responsible teaching, who answers every question; I was greatly pleased. The whole class was almost a dialogue between him and me; the teacher was probably also happy to meet me, because in this kind of class students usually do not respond much. Having a questioning student like me, the teacher is not lonely in class, and many of my questions are quite challenging.

This teacher previously worked in clinical practice and has rich experience; he once performed 14 lumbar punctures in a single day. He is modest, low-key, pragmatic and calm, and his explanations are especially clear. I have also taken online courses by many famous anatomy teachers; I secretly think our lab teacher's explanations are the best - at least for me, his answers are the most on-target.

I take meticulous notes and write lab reports; I am not here to dawdle or coast to a diploma. From this week, our professional course hours are gradually increasing, especially the number of lab sessions. I am delighted with this arrangement; the lab building is full of all kinds of laboratories. Once inside the lab, we have opened the door to the human body and can glimpse its various secrets. My curiosity in this field grows rather than diminishes; the more I learn, the more questions arise, and the more places I need the teacher to explain. Some questions the teacher may not be able to answer, but he will point me to the literature so I can work it out myself.

Every day here is full and rewarding. When offline classes are hard going, I watch teaching videos by famous teachers from other institutions. The world is vast and full of wonders; however much an individual learns, it is but a single drop in the ocean. If one takes in new knowledge every day and keeps extending outward through it, opening the doors to more new worlds, the heart will be full and joyful.

I love the life I have now; I thank fate for arranging that not a single day of mine is wasted.