It’s Thanksgiving. As immigrants to the United States, our family has never really fully embraced or celebrated this holiday. My parents have an overwhelmingly strong preference for Chinese food. On top of that, I think the turkey is just a challenging meat to cook, one that can easily be too dry or too bland. It’s also just a lot of food. This Thanksgiving, I’m spending it alone at my parents’ large and empty house with my dog, Whitty. In many ways, this is my preference. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family and most of my friends, but I’ve always felt this sort of inexplicable distance from people in my life that I’ve come to treasure time spent alone. I feel most people don’t understand, appreciate, or fully accept me for who I am. They’d rather me be this alternative version of a David that they have in their minds–one that they’re more familiar or comfortable with. But never mind that. Instead, I wanted to take some time this morning to express a few thoughts of gratitude.
To begin, this is my first holiday season as a bona fide doctor. My journey to becoming one really began with medical school in 2012. Due to circumstances beyond my control, that process stretched from the original 4 years to 13 years from start to finish. No, I wasn’t formally in school the entire time, but I was in an intensive learning mindset during all thirteen years, and I think at the end of the day, that’s what really counts. You get out of an experience what you put into it. Sometimes, more is more. Am I unhappy that I eventually became a PhD instead of an MD? No, not really. To be honest, I was torn in college between pursuing an MD versus a PhD. I could’ve went either way, but I knew I didn’t want to do both. I just wanted to be a doctor. Furthermore, being a doctor comes with certain privileges. For one, I’ve noticed that I’ve become just a little bit more responsible. Maybe it’s my degree and all the expectations that come with it, or maybe it’s just my change in environment, but I certainly strive to be a more ethical human being because of my title.
The second thing I’m thankful for is that I’m still on track to follow my dreams of becoming an architect. At the age of 36, I don’t have children I need to worry about and support, I have not accrued any debt, and I live in a very high quality, modern, and affordable living arrangement in downtown Los Angeles located 10 minutes away from one of the top independent Architecture schools in the nation, The Southern California Institute of Architecture. I have an opportunity to transition there from my postdoc in the next two years, and though I still have not committed or applied to the institution, I’ve already amassed an impressive portfolio of artwork that would make the application process relatively straightforward. It’s truly a gift and a privilege to be 36 years old and still possess the dreams, ambitions, and energy of someone much younger. Most people have either settled down or begin to slow down at this stage in life.
I’m also very thankful for my good overall health (*knock on wood*). We live in a society that’s currently experiencing a mental health crisis. Cancer rates are also rising steadily among young adults. It could just be a generally bad time health wise for a lot of young people. Yet, I just received a comprehensive blood work panel from my primary care physician and all metrics are within normal limits. I do a daily 20-40 minute run, and I’m grateful that I possess the flexibility and time in my work schedule to fit in a succinct exercise regimen. That would probably not be the case had I stayed in medicine. I also gave up alcohol, for the most part. I’ll drink socially every now and then, but seeing that I’m not a particularly social individual, that pretty much cuts down my alcohol consumption to about one to three drinks a month.
Lastly, I’m thankful to all my colleagues in the MRI and neuroimaging community, mostly to my former PhD and my current postdoc advisors. Both are incredibly intelligent, accomplished and kind human beings, and both are Asian Americans who possess similar cultural experiences as me. While I don’t anticipate staying in this field for the long term, as I’ve previously mentioned, the MRI field has provided my education with a strong foundational base with rigorous technical training that I think no other field can. For that, I’m eternally grateful to the community, to the University of California, Davis and the University of Southern California, and to the overall field of biomedical engineering.
To conclude, there’s lots to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving spent alone. I will probably dine on some boiled vegetables and frozen dumplings today, walk the dog, and go for my usual run. Not the standard, Instagram-worthy experience that many of my friends and family will be having. But overall, I’m thankful that I’m in a good place in my life, both figuratively and literally in living in downtown Los Angeles, a place of infinite opportunities. Above all, I’m thankful to be on a path of my own construction, rather than one that has been inherited or prescribed by an authority figure.
The Ivory Tower 
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