Vertical and Horizontal Expansion
For most of my life, I understood growth as vertical. Vertical expansion means climbing. Higher title. Greater responsibility. More recognition. More output. More measurable impact. In medicine and academia, the ladder is clear. Training leads to faculty. Faculty leads to promotion. Grants lead to larger grants. Case volume leads to reputation. Leadership leads to visibility. […]
Expansion and Detachment: Two Necessary Phases of a Life
When I was younger, I believed expansion was the only direction. Expansion meant training longer, operating more, publishing more, earning grants, building credibility, advancing rank. As an immigrant restarting my career, expansion was not optional. It was survival. I pushed. I focused. I measured progress constantly. Case numbers mattered. Funding cycles mattered. Titles mattered. At […]
How One Millimeter of Daily Progress Can Transform Your Life
As a surgeon observing patients’ recovery, a medical researcher analyzing subtle changes in data, and a triathlete training every day, I’ve come to realize one undeniable truth: growth never happens all at once. Just as clay must be kneaded, shaped, and pressed repeatedly before it becomes a beautiful piece of pottery, our personal growth often […]
Living Toward a Purpose Beyond the Self
I face surgery as a surgeon, data and hypotheses as a medical researcher, and my own limits as a triathlete, continually pushing myself forward. At first glance, these may seem like completely different worlds, but within me they are connected by a single axis. That axis is this: “Not letting my abilities end with serving […]
“As long as we keep challenging ourselves, we never stop growing.”
As we grow older, it is only natural that there are more things we can no longer do. There may be moments when we feel our physical strength declining or notice that it takes longer to recover. Even so, the spirit of taking on challenges is something we can continue to hold onto at any […]
“Not an Age of Decline, but an Age of Awakening —
Now That We Are Older, the Greatest Challenge Begins” We are not fighting against age. Through age, we are learning how to use our soul. What triathlon training teaches us is not only muscular strength or cardiovascular capacity, but something deeper: the essence of life itself— how we trust our own existence, and how we […]
“The Zone” as I Experience It as a Surgeon
I stand in the operating room as a surgeon. In a place where lives are entrusted to us, a split-second decision or the slightest movement of the hand can dramatically change the outcome. In that environment, there is a sensation I have experienced many times: “entering the zone.” ⸻ Moments in Surgery When Time Disappears […]
Reclaiming My Own “Axis of Evaluation”
After I started doing triathlons, I began to feel something unexpected. Because I started later in life, I had no desire to compete with younger athletes. Winning or losing wasn’t even the point—our experience, our physical strength, everything was different. Naturally, the person I needed to face wasn’t “someone else,” but the version of myself […]
2025: A Year That Redefined My Limits
When I look back on 2025, one word comes to mind: awakening. It was the year I learned—through pain, patience, faith, and persistence—that human limits are often nothing more than boundaries we quietly decide to believe in. The First Turning Point: Finishing a Half Ironman Earlier in the year, I finally crossed the finish line […]
Simple Is Strongest: What Triathlon Has Taught Me
There’s something I often find myself thinking about as I continue training in triathlon. That is this: the “fundamental skills” required for each discipline—swim, bike, and run—are actually very simple. The training itself is nothing special either; most of it is just repeating the basics over and over. But how deeply, accurately, and consistently you […]