How a competition can make you a better doctor

When I committed to doing my first Iron Man 70.3 I didn't know what I was getting into. When I was in the starting line and heard the loud gunshot, I started running for the water and started swimming farther away from the beach. Only about 30 minutes into it, my brain started to tell me to stop, stop, stop, please stop, why are you doing this? the real battle had begun, the battle that goes on inside of our heads the moment we decide to do something. This race taught me 4 great lessons:

The first one is that our brains will talk us out of anything we let it. So we must silence it with action

The second lesson is that through this competition I learned more about nutrition that I could have ever learned from a book as I tried different foods and diets for the training, and I was exposed to different concepts on nutrition that have served me and my patients well. 

The third lesson I learned as I was on a bus with other racers at 5:30 in the AM off to the starting line. I sat next to a woman that was in her 60s but she looked like she was in her thirties. I asked her what her favorite thing about the race was and she stated that it was the training. I then asked her why she did this and she told me that she had enough of a life sitting on the couch after having more than 20 back surgeries and decided to take matters into her own hands, now she has completed multiple iron man races around the world and feels like a champ! So I learned my third and fourth lesson from her. That a change in habits is a change in life. 

The fourth lesson is that competitions are a celebration of the training. In essence what she was trying to say is that the training was the gift of her life, the training transformed her health and wellbeing!!

All of these lessons transformed some concepts that I had about, aging, illness, and health as you can see.  In large because it exposed me to like-minded individuals with a set of habits and tricks. And being a member of a community that can push you and teach you, in the aspect you are trying to improve can do the same for you!.