IT AMAZES ME WHEN some people see me reading non-medical books and they appear shocked because:
“I don’t look like someone who reads anything else other than medical books”, they say.
Some even ask me: “Where do you see the time to read such books?”
One very much older friend once said to me when I was a medical student, “Caséy, reading these non medical books seriously means that you’ll have less time for your medical textbooks and as such you might not graduate or become a good doctor, if you continue like this.”
😂😂😂😂😂
When I then told him that I was a thriller/crime novel freak, he nearly had a seizure. He was so infuriated, but the more he convulsed, the more I laughed.
Inukwa akuko! 😃
One friend nearly froze when she saw my “small” collection of esoteric books and novels on my shelf.
These are the kind of people who have the traditional stereotype of doctors as brilliant people who are only knowledgeable in matters of human health ONLY, anything else and they are found wanting. Some claim that doctors are so myopic that they do not even know anything trending in the news let alone politics, sports or even business. Take them [doctors] to history topics or art and they are lost.
I just shake my head. 😅😅
While this used to be true to an extent in the past, it is not so anymore for a vast majority of us. The world is moving at a fast pace and so everyone is supposed to adapt or be left out. These days, it is nothing new to see doctors take up degrees in Business Management (on which I have a diploma) or MBA, MSc in Marketing, Accounting, Economics, etc.
Some veer off entirely and take plenty online courses in Social Media Marketing, Digital Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Coding, etc. The oga kpata kpata of them that I know is Dr Stephen Alexander Gabriel, a doctor who is also a computer wizard and an internet guru.
Some medical students, the likes of Ogbemudia Eddy and Kester Okosun start up NGOs [Lifesavers NG et Vara Academy, respectively], attend international conferences across the world, champion personality development, social entrepreneurship, etc. and still do well in their primary profession. My good friend, Dr Atenaga Avwerosuo Peter, is a co-founder of a fin-tech escrow company: Middletrust Ltd. I even started XDIFY Ltd just at graduation from med school.
Also, the likes of Dr Courage Idahor and yours truly are award-winning authors, while some of us are doing well in non-medical fields you’d never imagine.
Can you beat that?
You people need to drop the stereotype now!
Yes, we are doctors, but we can’t keep reading “Afebrile, anicteric, not pale, not dehydrated” everyday of our lives and you expect us to be competent enough in this fast-changing world.
Some of us can have hours of smart conversations on business, politics, history, internet, sports, and of course MEDICINE, because we have a voracious reading appetite.
If you form say you be sports aficionado, we go catch you there and still flog you. If you too make mouth for politics and we jam you, you go collect o!
🤣🤣🤣
Yes, we are that good! 😋😋
Like they say, your competition is not “local”, but “global”.
We have stepped up the GAME!
Before I forget, what else have you heard about doctors?
[Meanwhile: Small Business Big Money by Akin Alabi and Go Global by Grace Ihejiamaizu are my favorite non medical books of 2019].
Remember:
+++Impossibility is nothing. Just believe++ukwuGozieUnuNiile
~ © Caséy Amaefule ’20