The First Step

The first step is believing.

The idea is simple: the life we experience is built from the thoughts we repeat and the beliefs we carry.

I don’t mean that in some metaphysical way where thoughts magically reshape matter. I mean that everything starts with how we think. Our thoughts become beliefs. Those beliefs drive our actions. And those actions shape the world around us.

When I look back on my life, almost everything that’s happened has followed that pattern: a thought that turned into a belief, a belief that turned into action, and actions that ultimately changed the direction of my life.

There’s one moment I remember clearly.

I had graduated from college and had been working as an elementary school teacher. I was living with my best friend in Austin and was in a long-term relationship with my girlfriend. Life was good. I felt happy with my job and where I was.

Then one day I was talking to my mom on the phone, just catching up and telling her how things were going.

During the conversation, she mentioned something almost casually: when I first left home for college, I had planned on pursuing medicine. Why was I a teacher? She reminded me I had always said I wanted to be a doctor.

She wasn’t mad. But I could hear the disappointment in her voice. And that stuck with me.

After I got off the phone, I sat there thinking: Why hadn’t I pursued medical school?

I had graduated early. I had done well in school and completed most of the prerequisites. But I hadn’t taken the MCAT or actually applied. And in a moment of honesty with myself, I realized the truth: I didn’t believe I deserved it. I was scared of the responsibility and pressure of actually becoming a doctor, of actually having to follow through. I had been stopping myself.

During undergrad, I had started creating excuses. I told myself I didn’t like my classes or the people in the pre-med track. Part of that may have been true, but a bigger part was fear. I was avoiding something that felt hard and that, deep down, I didn’t feel worthy of.

Looking back now, I think that’s one of the ways we become “sick.” Not physically sick, but mentally stuck. We start believing something is wrong with us. That we’re not capable. That we don’t deserve the life we want. That belief quietly shapes our decisions.

And before we realize it, we’ve built a life around it.

In that moment, I decided that was bullshit.

I decided I was going to be a doctor—no matter what it took. I looked at my situation and realized it didn’t reflect who I believed I could be. It didn’t reflect my worth. I told myself I am worthy, and that was all that mattered.

Immediately after that realization, I got on my computer and started researching what I needed to do to get into medical school. I didn’t overthink and didn’t hesitate. I signed up for an MCAT prep course and made an appointment with my former college counselor.

From that point forward, I wasn’t just a teacher anymore—I was someone taking the first steps toward becoming a doctor.

I realized I needed to take Biochemistry to apply to every medical school in the state, and I would have to retake Organic Chemistry since my previous grade wasn’t up to my standards. I also looked up the average MCAT scores for the top schools.

I made a decision: I was going to earn top marks in the classes I needed and get an MCAT score that would make me competitive at the best programs. I chose to see those requirements not as obstacles, but as part of the path forward.

When I studied, it didn’t feel like a chore. It felt like what was supposed to happen—what someone serious about becoming a doctor simply does.

So I did.

That summer, I earned top marks in both Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry. I did well enough that I was asked to tutor struggling students, and my professor was kind enough to write me a letter of recommendation for medical school. Later that fall, I earned the MCAT score I had told myself I would get.

There were bumps along the way, of course. The timing wasn’t perfect. I had to apply to medical school twice. The first time, I didn’t fully understand how the application process worked. I applied late in the cycle, ended up on the wait list, and never came off it.

The following year I wasn’t going to make the same mistake and I wasn’t going to risk being wait listed again. I retook the MCAT, scored even higher, and submitted my application the day the portal opened. A few months later, I received an early acceptance to the school of my choice.

That conversation with my mom has always stayed with me. It felt like a wake-up call—not because I was doing anything wrong, but because I realized I had the power to decide where my life was going.

And I’m still trying to live by that lesson.

Now I’m no longer living with my best friend in a small apartment. I’m living in a home with my wife and kids, working as a doctor, building the life I chose for myself.

In a sense, I manifested my life as a doctor through that original shift in belief. Once something aligned in my mind, everything else gradually aligned around it.

The hard part is that I forget this all the time.

I still get stuck. I still feel trapped by circumstances. I still have moments where that voice creeps back in and tells me something is wrong with me, tries to convince me that something is wrong with me.

But the truth is the same now as it was then. I’m not sick. I’m just holding myself back, but now I know I have the power to do something about it.

That’s really all I’m trying to say.

You can do the same.

I’ve mentored students who want to go to medical school and find themselves in situations similar to the one I was in years ago. What I tell them is this: the only thing holding you back is your belief about what you’re capable of. Once you truly believe you can do something, that you are something, and start taking action—things begin to move in the direction you want.

That voice that says you’re not good enough begins to fade. The excuses lose their power. And when your belief in yourself becomes strong enough, that voice disappears altogether.

The first step is believing: you are not sick.