Valentine Esposito is a pediatric resident.

An insufficiency of enoughness: a doctor’s reflections on anxiety

Conditions
August 29, 2020

My college graduation was approaching, and I was slated to start medical school in the fall. I was happy. You could find me with an impossible smile, singing along with the windows down to my favorite song — Beat of the Music by Brett Eldredge — as I made my way through menial errands. Everything felt like sunshine.

Before I knew it, the metaphorical firehose of medical school was underway.  I …

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An insufficiency of enoughness: a doctor’s reflections on anxiety

The weight of it: a pediatrician’s thoughts on how words last a lifetime

Physician
November 6, 2019

Start at the origin. Over two, up four. Down three, right six. Left five, up one. Keep connecting the dots. Everything will take shape.

I liked graphs. Plotting coordinates — whether it be for a parabola or ellipse — was always calming for me: numbers told you exactly where you needed to be.

But my numbers scared me. My 8-year-old feet would hesitantly step on the scale at the doctor’s office. I …

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The weight of it: a pediatrician’s thoughts on how words last a lifetime