Musings of a tired prefrontal cortex

 For the medical noobs, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is that part of the brain that regulates thoughts, actions, and emotions.

If musings and mayhem don’t make sense to you, I think Google is a very good tool and, I do suggest- stick to social media with the infinite scroll. It will provide you with enough feel-good neurotransmitters to get through the day without even realising you have been lying on the couch just doing nothing. Here is not the spot to be for the highs, here is the place for the whack on the head and ass, similar to the one experienced by Indian kids(Note: not being racist here, I am from an Indo-Mauritian lineage) you know when those kids refused to sit down. That ass had just taken a hell of a beating from that ever so caring mother that used their cockiness as a lesson for the future. Ah sweet memories…

N.B The infinite scroll was created by Aza Raskin and it forms the basis of why you lose endless hours on social media now. It is also called Doom scrolling(make your own inference from it). Basically, in simpler terms, that is why you are ‘brain-cuffed’ to your social media.

So, relationships are such a great topic to initiate the ride. The idea of blood relationships being insignificant is often explored in literature and philosophy, particularly emphasizing how bonds formed through understanding, shared values, or personal choice can outweigh mere biological ties.

Blood doesn’t make you family. It makes you related. Loyalty, love, and trust make you family.

Or as Jodi Picoult so nicely said in Small Great Things:

“We don’t have to be alike to feel like we belong. We don’t have to be blood to be family.”

These perspectives collectively argue that the value of relationships lies not in their biological basis but in the quality of connection, love, and mutual support they provide. While blood relationships can be meaningful, they are not inherently more important than chosen relationships built on trust, empathy, and shared experiences.

Relationships are dynamic and can evolve or dissolve over time.

“People change and forget to tell each other.” – Lillian Hellman

As people grow, their priorities, interests, and values can change. This natural evolution can create a gap between friends who were once inseparable. Does it mean you should be an ass and take out your notebook where you have marked up all your mortal enemies in ascending order like Sheldon Copper in The Big Bang Theory to include that lost friend? Well, it depends on how much you intend to follow up the feud, but if you need advice on how to remember who did what and when, look no further- your very own Eve can teach you a thing or so about how she remembers something you did 5 years ago. It relentlessly amazes me how the women in our lives (be it your mother or life partner) have such a great memory for everything that you might have done(or ? not done).

Well I think (and that is my humble opinion), you should not. Not all things last. And nothing lasts forever, except diamonds (apparently). Just be happy that they were there for that short time- you have great memories, cherish those and move on. You changed, so why would you expect your friend or loved one to stay the same?

Sometimes we grow apart, not because we don’t care, but because we’re growing in different directions. Remember, life just happens.

You will form more relationships during your journey. Some will include work colleagues that often evolve into unexpected pillars of support during challenging times, forging bonds that transcend professional boundaries.

When personal life feels turbulent, work can become a sanctuary where colleagues offer emotional support and practical help, akin to a refuge in tough times. Also, please, be careful of that sanctuary and the need to fornicate as depicted so well in movies and real life. Ah fornication… Weirdly enough, it is one of the words (Ah) we so often use during those ‘acts’, besides the so nice ‘Oh God’. Well God doesn’t need to know about your extracurricular activities my dear friend, so leave him/her out of it. Back to fornication- a term that sounds more suited for a Shakespearean scandal than casual conversation. It’s the word that makes eyebrows rise and ears turn around faster than satellites in orbit. At its core, “fornicate” is just a fancy, almost regal-sounding way to describe an act that’s as old as humanity itself and to just describe it in simple words- intimate connections outside the bounds of matrimony.

Workplace acquaintances can transform into allies and sometimes, the people you least expect to rely on become your greatest support system, offering a fresh perspective and unconditional understanding.

Colleagues often provide the much-needed sweetness amid the challenges of daily life. These relationships remind us that meaningful connections can be formed in any environment and sometimes, we find family in the most unexpected places.

That has been my case for the past 3 years, especially this last year where juggling trips back to home to troubleshoot issues has given me more headaches than I wish to think about. People think of Mauritius and say ‘Sun, Sea and Sand’. I think of my home country and ponder- here comes the Broca’s aphasia, the headache, and the paracetamol.

Ah fear not my dear reader, I don’t have any issue with formulating thoughts or expressing speech- Both my Wernicke’s and Broca’s area are fully functional.

I am a just firm believer of practicing the art of silence to avoid triggering the sarcasm Olympics. Let’s put that into perspective: To a simple question like – Why do you look so tired? You should learn to relax, my immediate reply would be probably- Well, I usually relax quite well by myself, and then some people come and talk to me. Though, I usually reply- Sure I will try to. Thank you.

Anyway, to sum it up, life is like a plot twist masterclass: just when you think you’ve got it figured out, it flips the script. It has a way of being gloriously unpredictable, sometimes frustrating, but often laugh-out-loud funny when you think about it a few years down the line.

It doesn’t send memos or give heads-ups—Life just happens.

Ever notice how the best stories are the ones you didn’t plan? Like going out for groceries and coming back with a new pet.

As Forrest Gump said – Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.

Of course, sometimes, someone eats all the good ones and left you the weird ones. Well, learn to make lemonade from lemon.

Life doesn’t hand you a map; it hands you a pair of roller skates and says, “Figure it out.”. It has been quite the protocol almost all Anaesthesia Registrars and Officers have followed at my institution also. Sure, you might crash a lot, but that’s where the best memories (ahemm… hopefully) come from. Look, if it doesn’t give you good memories, it sure as hell will gift you PTSD- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. So buckle up! Here come the life train!

It’s ironic, isn’t it? We pour our energy into chasing life goals—graduating, climbing the career ladder, building a family, or earning that next degree—and somewhere along the way, life itself sneaks by, quietly tallying up birthdays while we’re too distracted to notice. Suddenly, we’re not just achieving goals; we’re searching for our glasses that are sitting right on top of our heads. Or sometimes, you are grabbing that toilet paper and instead of using it to wipe your ass, you are shoving it in your mouth thinking it is your breakfast(hopefully the clean one). Well, dementia also creeps up on you, whether you want it or not.

We’re so busy planning for the future that we forget the present is slipping through our fingers.

Learn to cherish the time you have, the current relationships. Care for your friends and family. Learn to care for your elders, to listen to them when they say, ‘Back in my day…’. You learnt to walk holding their hand, so make some time to sit down and listen to them or maybe, hold their hands so they can walk.

History is a great teacher, and yet, we mortals so often forget to look back and learn from experiences of our peers and elders.

Well, learn to live. Do not live to earn money, earn money to live. I hope that you can distinguish the nuance between the two.

Else, well, life happens, whether you want it or not and you don’t want to be thinking of what Dr Seuss said on your deathbed- “How did it get so late so soon?”.