I also was interested in being a physician since high school. I think it is because I always had an interest in physiology and the natural sciences from one of my parents (they are not a physician but are in a STEM field). I thought 'House MD' was the coolest show ever growing up haha. I never cared about the status or money. I honestly tried to convince myself for years to like anything else but medicine. I was well-aware throughout undergrad of how gruelling of a career medicine is and all of its drawbacks. Additionally, I thought I wasn't someone who could handle it (the hours + pressure). I experienced a lot of traumatic events growing up and lived in an unsafe household so I had some lingering issues I was working through and had horrible confidence in myself.

So, I tried and explored a very large number of different careers throughout and after undergrad, and I even completed a portion of a Master's degree in a field outside of healthcare.

After developing some chronic health issues + going through some additional life experiences (that I won't mention to preserve my anonymity), I eventually came to a place in my life where I realized medicine is what I had to do. I felt (and still feel) a drive to 'do better' in medicine. I knew I wouldn't be happy doing any other career. I had grown and healed from previous difficulties in my life and felt more confident in my ability to handle a career in medicine. I came to a point where I knew with certainty that this was what I wanted to do/was supposed to do, as cheesy as it sounds. To be honest though, part of me sometimes wishes I liked a different career because medicine imposes a lot of challenges in your life, some you don't event think about until you're there.

Now that I'm in medicine, I'm grateful every single day to be doing something that finally feels 'right'. I don't question myself anymore. It's tough but I feel so fulfilled from a career/academics for the first time in my life. A lot of people are here for the prestige/status/respect or money. This makes sense, but not everyone is. If I somehow had a trust fund and didn't have to work, I wouldn't be a doctor haha. But I would still choose to do medicine even if physicians were paid 70K per year.