Big dreams

Before coming to Munich, I haven’t thought much about my career. Dentistry is a major with a fixed path, and we just follow the curriculum for 7 years. I don’t have many options regarding my job, I can either choose to open my own dental clinic, be a professor, or work as a pay doctor. Before coming here, I simply thought of opening a hospital in Seoul. It seemed to be the option that most people choose, and once the hospital settles down, there isn’t much risk.

However, this thought changed recently, while staying in Munich. I was a person who doesn’t like to adventure, or bring a change to my life. I preferred staying in home rather than going outside and didn’t like moving out from my comfort zone. This was also pretty much the reason I wanted to be a dentist, because I didn’t want to explore my career; I wanted to have it fixed. But as I had a chance to live in a completely different place, meet new people, travel around, I noticed that I feel much more alive and joyful when new things come up. My lifestyle completely changed here. If I have any free time, I can’t stand just staying at home. I have to go somewhere, at least to the park next to my house. Also, in Korea, I mostly took lectures, but all my courses here this semester are a seminar. I realized that these courses that involve a discussion with students from different backgrounds are the ones that can give a much meaningful insight.

So now, I don’t want to be an average dentist treating patients that come to my hospital. This is a great thing to do, but I don’t think I will have much progress in both knowledge and ability. I want to be a professor, one that is known best in the field. I don’t want to simply learn the knowledge, I want to play a role in developing the field, so that more people can benefit from my work. This will allow me to discuss the accomplishments with other well-known researchers too, and thus motivate me to keep making progress. As I haven’t learned enough about dentistry yet, I didn’t decide which field in dentistry I want to major. Now, I am interested in oral microbiology, and want to study about how oral bacteria triggers oral diseases, and even can be a cause to diseases like dementia, lung cancer etc. But this might change!

I was recently inspired the speech ‘Fall Forward’ by Denzel Washington. He said ‘nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks. Taking risks is not just about going for a job; it’s also about knowing what you know and what you don’t know, and about being open to people and to ideas.’ I looked back on myself always seeking stability. A stable life has benefits, but it blocks me from having a bigger dream, opening up to new inputs. I decided to have my life to be more exciting.