My mission statement.

A few months ago, I had a short, yet profound connection with a stranger that got me thinking. Let’s call him D.

D was a third-year med student who decided to become a doctor after kicking the idea around for many years, on the fence about taking out massive school debt and halting his life to pursue medicine. He decided it was worth it, so he took the MCATs, applied and interviewed at medical schools, picked one, quit his full time job, and went about his journey. D started medical school (in one of the top five schools in the country) in his mid-30s. In an age when most doctors-in-training were finishing their residencies, D’s career just began.

But D did not see his age as a hinderance or his career as “just beginning.” He saw his new trajectory as a continuation of his life mission, which he wrote up years before he began thinking about medical school. As I sat next to D, he took out a small black Moleskin notebook, opened up the flap, and read me the short four sentences that encompassed his life mission statement. D wanted to serve others and saw that medical school was the best training he could put himself through to impact people. He was bright, determined and probably would have excelled in whatever he put his mind towards, but knew that his heart was most content helping others as a doctor.

After exchanging comments on the best brands of probiotics and Spirulina green mix, he encouraged me to write my own mission statement as a guideline to live my life by. So here it is, after rounds of revisions and joyful contemplation.

My mission in life is…
– to be a beacon of hope in the darkness
– to lead by example
– to empower the broken and destitute
– to champion and serve those without voices
– to love my family and friends
– to keep exploring, adventuring, and learning
– to live each day as if it is my last day on Earth.