Funny How Life Works

Life really has a weird sense of humor.

Back in high school, I absolutely hated chemistry. I tried so hard to like it, seriously. I told myself maybe I just needed to study harder, maybe I needed a better teacher, maybe I just needed more time. But no matter what I did, chemistry and I just never clicked. It felt like we were never meant to be.

Then came medical school. And somehow, things got even worse.

Biochemistry entered my life.

Honestly, I thought chemistry was already difficult enough, but biochemistry felt like chemistry’s evil cousin. Everything was complicated, confusing, full of pathways and reactions that made my brain want to shut down immediately. I memorized things for exams, survived somehow, and moved on with my life still carrying that same dislike.

And during my clinical years as a doctor? The rotation I disliked the most was Pediatrics.

The patients cried all the time, the cases were tricky, the theories felt endless, and to make things even more stressful, the professors were terrifying. Pediatrics was the kind of department that made me count the days until the rotation ended.

But life, apparently, loves plot twists.

Because now, here I am in Japan, studying a combination of the three things I used to hate the most: Chemistry + Biochemistry + Pediatrics.

And not just casually studying them, but actually chasing a Ph.D dream in that exact field.

Sometimes I still laugh when I think about it.

If someone had told my younger self that one day I would move to Japan and dedicate years of my life to studying the subjects I once desperately wanted to avoid, I probably would have laughed in their face.

But maybe that’s how life works sometimes.

The things we struggle with the most can unexpectedly become part of our biggest journey. Not because they suddenly become easy, but because somewhere along the way, we change. We grow. We find meaning in places we never expected.

The world is funny like that.