Abbott’s Preparation Week 27 (Medic)​

This week has been a tremendous week, full of growth and learning, but also very fun.

I feel fully back into the flow of things and my flying has been improving, as I have grown in my ability to make decisions for myself, which is what I was needing to work on before I went to Italy. The month I spent on my own in another country definitely helped me not only to think more cognitively, but also just to grow as an adult in general.

Speaking of being an adult, just yesterday I had my 18th birthday, which means that I’m now a legal adult, but it also means that my Preparation has opened up vastly, as opportunities that I couldn’t seize before when I was too young have now become mine for the taking. However, this also entails that I’m registered to vote and automatically signed up for the draft, and have to now do all the unpleasant things that adults have to do, like pay taxes to a corrupt government. But that’s neither here nor there.

Back to the topic at hand, I’ve been hard at work on the studies for my Medic Cycle. I’m almost done with my first Great Courses class, Medical School for Everyone, and I started reading a new book, Cave Man Chemistry, which has one of the most interesting narratives in any book I’ve read, personifying the four elements as narrators in the book to describe how simple primitive tools use complex chemistry and math fit for the average science professor. I’ll talk more about the book once I’ve actually finished it. My Great Course, Medical School for Everyone, is very intriguing and thoughtful as well. Many of the lectures open with a quote from a popular book such as one of the Sherlock Holmes novels, and this will actually be relevant to the case at hand. Sherlock Holmes is a particularly good example, because similar to how the famous British detective solves crimes, doctors have to solve medical cases; using the facts, their knowledge, and a great deal of common sense. Additionally, the course doesn’t stick to the traditional spiel of checkups or the idea of “doctors visits,” but instead chooses exciting narratives, placing you in the shoes of a researcher in Antarctica or a witness to a terrible motorcycle accident. All in all, I’d highly recommend both of these resources for anyone seeking knowledge, and especially so if you’re considering the Medic cycle for your Preparation.

While I’m promoting material for the Preparation, what better than the upcoming Preparation website? The Preparation forum is a space where young adults can come to be able to talk to each other, share their cycles and experience, offer words of encouragement and advice, and be able to connect with people all around the world. While the website is still in beta testing, you can learn more by checking out The Preparation or Maxim Benjamin Smith, both on Substack.

As I conclude my first full day of adulthood, I again contemplate the future I want to have and the man I want to become. I think everything I’ve already done this year has vastly grown me as a person and also shown me the tenets of adulthood that many find difficult to achieve or uphold in our modern society: commitment and self-reliance. I’ve stayed committed throughout each cycle, showing up and accomplishing everything I can on time. The deadlines I missed, like getting my pilot’s license, I’m still striving to achieve and prioritizing with the time I have. Furthermore, staying alone for a month in Italy has grown my sense of self-reliance vastly, teaching me many important lessons which I never would have learned if I had just stayed home.

Ultimately, I hope to push myself further and expand my comfort zone, if not abandon it entirely, and through this growth of trials and tribulations, grow into the man I want to be: competent, confident and dangerous (another tag line for the Preparation).

With that, I’ll leave you, and I hope you have a great rest of your Sunday as always. Until next time,

• Abbott Springston