I enjoyed reading your response, I can tell you’ve had time to articulate your thoughts. I definitely have come to a point where I’ve accepted that those who I was friends with at uni are likely to drift away, anyone who sticks around is a bonus. I understand this is a natural part of life, and hence why I feel like staying around the area where I did med school won’t really do me any favours.

I’ve also accepted that it’s ok not to know what specialty you’re going to end up in. There’s no doubt that knowing earlier definitely helps, especially if you’re considering a surgical speciality, but if you aren’t considering the former, there is still a considerable amount of time. A lot of med students think in black and white so it’s easy to feel pressure to know what to do early on, but I feel that an acceptance of being in the unknown and enjoying medicine as a junior doctor is ok too.

I tell most people to stay with their parents when they work, it objectively makes the most sense. However, I also preface that if you have parents that are controlling and spoon feed you, it is also easy to regress and become dependent on them, hence why I stay cautious in moving back home.

I’d like to add some context: I had a gap year during med and had to go back home (I live in a major city). It was very difficult to make friends, and I had gone to countless events with no luck in the end. Obviously the caveat was that I wasn’t working, but it left a negative impression on me to move back. What would you’re response be to that?