The following manuscript was submitted to the May 2017 Mental Health Themed Writing Contest.
The waves beat;
a cold, relentless torrent.
You stand against them
taking the impact,
trying not to fall.
You float with them,
relaxing
but wrought with uncertainty.
At times there is warmth;
A calm in the deluge.
Suddenly the waves engulf you;
You are ten feet under and upside down.
You continue through;
A life’s mission you’ve chosen.
A mission full of Sacrifice and Sadness:
Hope and Unbridled Joy.
A mission that in your darkest underwater moments you question completely.
Are you Good enough? — Smart enough? — Brave enough?
What is enough?
How much can a mission take?
Will you have Ever given Enough?
Can balance be found
in the middle of an onslaught?
When will the pounding give way to calm confidence?
How much can one mind, body and soul take?
More has already been given — and taken — than is conscionable.
Life becomes lived for Moments:
a Quiet moment;
a Loved moment;
a Complete moment.
A Life Saved.
A Thank You.
Light dancing upon the waves.
Fellow Physician Contributing Writer
Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin
Pamela is currently completing her fellowship training in Pediatric Critical Care at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. She has always used writing as an outlet and was inspired at a young age by personal experiences to join the field of medicine. With a keen interest in technology, she completed her undergraduate training at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, earning her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering. She then went on to complete her medical doctorate at the Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University. In pediatric critical care she has found the perfect melding of her interests in technology and medicine and hopes to be a part of designing the critical care unit of the future. Pamela believes that in medicine especially, reminders of the humanism that inspires people to begin the journey of medical training are essential to becoming the type of physician we all would want treating our own families.