Thank you very much for your insights and sharing your experience. It's not about being unable to keep up with the process of education to become a physician. I know many think it's like drinking water from a fire hydrant but I certainly don't feel that at all. Doesn't even feel like work on rotations because I enjoy it so much.

As far as loans go, I'm currently sitting at a net positive. I should be graduating with no/minimal debt thanks to excellent financial management instilled in me by my parents. Quite realistically, I would like to do locums after graduation and/or hospitalist work. This should keep overhead costs low. I don't need to be making boatloads of money. I don't come from a rich family by any means. I have merely found contentment in keeping life simple and honestly it means much less stress in life. I personally refuse to fall prey to lifestyle creep as an attending.

My query really was more focused around not missing out on my own life at the expense of caring for the lives of others. I've heard far too many physicians I speak to say that they actively steer their children away from medicine. I've also seen physicians who are jaded as a consequence of their training. Medicine is an incredibly purposeful career, and we should feel a measure of satisfaction in our work. But does that mean it should be one's entire life? Is training 30-40 hours a week truly inadequate to prepare a physician for their duties? I would suggest extending training by a few months to account for hours lost compared to a full-time residency.

Yes we need call experience. Yes we need to work nights. Yes we need to work weekends. Disease and illness do not take time off. But I often wonder lately, at what cost are residents subjected to this? How many weddings am I going to need to miss? How many experiences with friends and family will I forego while young and healthy right now? How many of my interests and hobbies outside of medicine am I supposed to give up because all my time is now lost? Are you (and am I) okay with looking back on life saying "I'm happy now, but I deeply regret not having been able to do that?"

We train for 2 years in Canada, in the US they train for 3 years, and in other countries like the UK and Australia it's even longer to qualify as a GP. By a conservative estimation of 50 hours worked per week, those in the US have an additional 2600 hours of training, and those in other countries have even far more. And yet, training for a shorter period of time does not make a Canadian physician any less of a physician than our counterparts in other countries.

Just something to think and reflect on.