Ever since I was a college student, my life has mostly been busy. Back then, attending medical school and working in a hospital barely allowed me to have any free time. For most people in my current field, having free time is regarded as a luxury.
However, I've carved out some time in my busy life to do what I am passionate about. Having a hobby may be even more important to people who lead very full and busy lives. As we get sucked into our day jobs and chores, we become highly likely to lose creativity and productivity. In this situation, unwittingly overworking ourselves to the point of exhaustion is of no use. It's better to be able to clear our heads while enjoying a hobby and then come back to work feeling refreshed.
I've had a few different hobbies and interests over the years. The first thing I was into was exercising. Some may argue exercising is more of a necessity than a hobby, but I'll say it's a great hobby for me. Even though I'm not a regular gym-goer and don't do any type of exercise now, I used to enjoy all sorts of exercise: lifting weights, cycling, walking, running, playing badminton, and squash. At first, I decided to exercise regularly to be healthy, but before I knew it, I had been exercising regularly for over 10 years.
When I was a trainee doctor, overtime was kind of a necessity. To get my duties done, I didn't have any choice but to stay in the hospital even after dinner time. However, at that time of the day, I usually lost focus and didn't feel engaged in my work. I left behind what I could do later and went to the in-house gym instead. Just a 30-minute workout was enough to restore my sanity. After my full body workout routine, I often felt motivated. Thanks to endorphins and the adrenaline rush, I felt like I could do anything. Then I became able to get back to work.
The next thing I tried, and am still enjoying, is learning English. My friends ask how I can have enough energy to learn something after work. Of course, as a doctor, keeping up with the latest medical knowledge is hard enough, but it's all part of the job. However, learning something outside work is totally different. I don't feel pressured or self-conscious because others aren't observing me or judging me. In this carefree setting, learning can be a pure pleasure.
Confucius said, "Isn't it a pleasure to study and practice what you have learned?" Yes, I'm already practicing what I've learned (medicine!), but I must confess that learning English is much more fun because I'm learning in of itself. Who knows? Someday, my English skills may also help me get a better career.
I've recently moved to a new hospital, and a few weeks have passed in the blink of an eye. My days have been full of work, so I haven't been able to find time for myself. Nevertheless, it's too early to give up on pursuing my passions. That's why I picked up a new hobby and combined it with my work. It's learning R. R is a statistical software program like SPSS, STATA, and SAS, but it's infinitely more flexible. R is more like a programming language, so it gives you an incomparable degree of freedom. Even better, the software is free. You can do so many interesting things that are not confined to statistical calculation. I'm writing research papers, so I extract medical records from our system, organize them, and process them with the use of R. On top of that, I can easily split English and Korean subtitles of American TV series and tidy them into readable English-language study material.
When I was a child, I loved to play with computers so much that I learned programming languages for fun, such as BASIC, Visual Basic, and C. I was fascinated to see what computers did when they followed the codes I wrote. Doctors in university hospitals are pressured to be researchers, so now I'm also being encouraged to develop data analysis skills. Learning and practicing R can help me to tap into a sense of play while working on those skills.
day job 본업, 주업
get sucked into -에 매몰되다, 빠지다
unwittingly 자신도 모르게, 부지불식간에
before I know it 나도 모르는 사이에
feel engaged in -에 적극적으로 참여하게 되다
confined to -에 국한된
be pressured to -하도록 압박을 받다
tap into a sense of play 재미로 하는 느낌을 가지게 하다
restsore my sanity 온전한 정신을 되찾다
incomparable / (ˌ)in-ˈkäm-p(ə-)rə-bəl
endorphin / en-ˈdȯr-fən
adrenaline / ə-ˈdre-nə-lən
American / ə-ˈmer-ə-kən
programming / ˈprō-ˌgra-miŋ
calculation / kal-kyə-ˈlā-shən
analysis / ə-ˈna-lə-səs
However, I've carved out some time in my busy life to do what I am passionate about. Having a hobby may be even more important to people who lead very full and busy lives. As we get sucked into our day jobs and chores, we become highly likely to lose creativity and productivity. In this situation, unwittingly overworking ourselves to the point of exhaustion is of no use. It's better to be able to clear our heads while enjoying a hobby and then come back to work feeling refreshed.
I've had a few different hobbies and interests over the years. The first thing I was into was exercising. Some may argue exercising is more of a necessity than a hobby, but I'll say it's a great hobby for me. Even though I'm not a regular gym-goer and don't do any type of exercise now, I used to enjoy all sorts of exercise: lifting weights, cycling, walking, running, playing badminton, and squash. At first, I decided to exercise regularly to be healthy, but before I knew it, I had been exercising regularly for over 10 years.
When I was a trainee doctor, overtime was kind of a necessity. To get my duties done, I didn't have any choice but to stay in the hospital even after dinner time. However, at that time of the day, I usually lost focus and didn't feel engaged in my work. I left behind what I could do later and went to the in-house gym instead. Just a 30-minute workout was enough to restore my sanity. After my full body workout routine, I often felt motivated. Thanks to endorphins and the adrenaline rush, I felt like I could do anything. Then I became able to get back to work.
The next thing I tried, and am still enjoying, is learning English. My friends ask how I can have enough energy to learn something after work. Of course, as a doctor, keeping up with the latest medical knowledge is hard enough, but it's all part of the job. However, learning something outside work is totally different. I don't feel pressured or self-conscious because others aren't observing me or judging me. In this carefree setting, learning can be a pure pleasure.
Confucius said, "Isn't it a pleasure to study and practice what you have learned?" Yes, I'm already practicing what I've learned (medicine!), but I must confess that learning English is much more fun because I'm learning in of itself. Who knows? Someday, my English skills may also help me get a better career.
I've recently moved to a new hospital, and a few weeks have passed in the blink of an eye. My days have been full of work, so I haven't been able to find time for myself. Nevertheless, it's too early to give up on pursuing my passions. That's why I picked up a new hobby and combined it with my work. It's learning R. R is a statistical software program like SPSS, STATA, and SAS, but it's infinitely more flexible. R is more like a programming language, so it gives you an incomparable degree of freedom. Even better, the software is free. You can do so many interesting things that are not confined to statistical calculation. I'm writing research papers, so I extract medical records from our system, organize them, and process them with the use of R. On top of that, I can easily split English and Korean subtitles of American TV series and tidy them into readable English-language study material.
When I was a child, I loved to play with computers so much that I learned programming languages for fun, such as BASIC, Visual Basic, and C. I was fascinated to see what computers did when they followed the codes I wrote. Doctors in university hospitals are pressured to be researchers, so now I'm also being encouraged to develop data analysis skills. Learning and practicing R can help me to tap into a sense of play while working on those skills.
day job 본업, 주업
get sucked into -에 매몰되다, 빠지다
unwittingly 자신도 모르게, 부지불식간에
before I know it 나도 모르는 사이에
feel engaged in -에 적극적으로 참여하게 되다
confined to -에 국한된
be pressured to -하도록 압박을 받다
tap into a sense of play 재미로 하는 느낌을 가지게 하다
restsore my sanity 온전한 정신을 되찾다
incomparable / (ˌ)in-ˈkäm-p(ə-)rə-bəl
endorphin / en-ˈdȯr-fən
adrenaline / ə-ˈdre-nə-lən
American / ə-ˈmer-ə-kən
programming / ˈprō-ˌgra-miŋ
calculation / kal-kyə-ˈlā-shən
analysis / ə-ˈna-lə-səs
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