REFLECTION PAPER #2
Alejandro L. Garcia Jr., MD
The exercises on self-awareness have made me examine my past and how it made an impact on my present. My past experiences and environment have made me the person that I am today and how I will be dealing with the future.
1. External - what are family environment, school, and work experience that shaped you today?
Family
Growing up in a family of doctors was the biggest influence why I became a doctor. Aside from that, most if not everyone were honor students, and went to UP. That's why doing well in school was the norm in the family. As my grandfather would always say "walang Lahoz na bobo." Excellence and education was highly valued. I remember one time when my wife was telling me that her brother, who went to the same school as me, always got line of seven. My reaction was "is that ok with your parents?" because in our family, a line of seven was not acceptable.
School
As I have mentioned previously, we went to school in Manila because my parents felt that we will have better chances in entering the best schools for college because of the belief that schools in Manila are better compared to the ones in Cabanatuan where my parents practiced. My parents were right. We did get into UP, and Ateneo for college.
Another reason was because our parents did not want us to feel privileged or comfortable in school if we went to school in the province. Being away from our comfort zone made us nobody and a lot of kids are even better off. This experience made us more humble and more grounded. It also made us realize that leaving your comfort zone makes you stronger, more independent, more resourceful, and more resilient to challenges.
Work
For residency training, for me it was PGH or nothing because of the impression that PGH is where the best of the best are. You get to work with the famous doctors and the authors of books there. The diversity and the difficulty of the cases you will encounter in PGH. I want to do well in my field and I want to be prepared for any case that would come my way so I wanted PGH.
Anywhere I go, when people ask me where I trained, I would always be proud to say UP-PGH. The reaction of people would always be "wow" and the skills and wealth of knowledge that I got from training give me the strength and courage I need in practice.
2. Internal - your values, strength, weakness and how do they affect on how you decide act
Growing up away from parents was not easy for our parents and us. We would only communicate over the phone everyday and just see our parents on weekends. However, our appreciations for their sacrifices made us want to please them with good grades. Our motivation was to make our parents happy and proud of us.
My mother also helped strengthen our faith by brining us to church and pray for guidance whenever we had a big exam. Up to now I practice that and my faith has become stronger through the years. I've become more prayerful and trusted God for guidance in every decision.
3. How do they prepare you for your future challenges..
I read a quote by William Arthur Ward and it goes:
"Plan purposefully.
Prepare prayerfully.
Proceed positively.
Pursue persistently."
Plan purposefully - We have to get to know ourselves well to find our what our purpose is in this life. We cannot have a goal without a purpose. It's our motivation to keep moving forward.
Prepare prayerfully – We have to communicate with God to ask for guidance because it is only with his blessing that we will be able to reach our goal.
Proceed positively – There will be struggles in our journey. By keeping a positive outlook we will not be easily discouraged. As the saying goes "what doesn't break you will only make you stronger."
Pursue persistently – We never stop. We just move forward.
Thank you for taking time to read :) 3
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