Track 5, Side 2: You Get What You Give by New Radicals
Don't let go...you've got the music in you!
My dad taught me every epic journey deserves a great soundtrack. My PalliMed Mixtape is the story of my Palliative Medicine Fellowship year, told in 15 songs.
Wake up, kids / We got the dreamers’ disease
In an academic setting you find plenty of people with the dreamers’ disease. How refreshing! The learners here hope they’re gonna go out and change the world. And you know what? They really are!
They’ve got energy and creativity and vision. Our school supports their initiatives and provides them feedback on their projects, helps them achieve their goals. Healthcare for homeless, education initiatives, earlier access to dialysis for patients with no funding—all these projects are dreamed up by and carried out by the residents and students at this school. I am constantly inspired by these dreamers who are daring to make the world a better place.
The whole damn world could fall apart / You’ll be okay, follow your heart
This medical training can beat you down though, and then, so can medical practice. I’ve been beaten down many times in the 19 years since I entered medicine. Patients you work so hard for die unexpectedly, passion projects wither away, the payors and insurance systems seem aligned against you at times, and you start to wonder if it’s worth all the effort.
When the night is falling / You cannot find the light (light) / You feel your dreams are dying / Hold tight
I remember sitting in a debrief with ICU residents early this year, all of them heartbroken after losing a 23 year-old. He had complete brain death after being found down for an unknown amount of time. The ICU team had done everything, striving all night to save him, but in the end, nothing could bring him back.
4 AM, we ran a miracle mile
Those hurt—especially those early impactful patients you lose, when you’re in the trenches fighting it out, minute by minute, hour by hour. They stick with you. I’ll never forget my patient Mr. Clark from medical school whom paramedics found dead in the street right outside our hospital, having lost his battle with alcoholism at last. He was the first patient for whom I had really fought and lost. I think of him often, and even thought of him this fall as we sat in the ICU workroom debriefing this new tragic loss.
A handful of encouraging songs come to mind in moments like this—Float On by Modest Mouse, The Middle by Jimmy Eat World, Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey. If I could play just one song for my resident colleagues in these moments, though, it would be You Get What You Give, the 1998 power pop masterpiece by New Radicals. Who doesn’t feel better after hearing that song? Don’t let go, my friends. You’ve got the music in you. Don’t give up. Keep believing, keep fighting. May you never fully be cured of your dreamers’ disease. You are having an impact.
And if you have felt those old dreams slip away, like I certainly have at times, may you find the courage to dream just a little again.
You've got the music in you / Don't let go / You've got the music in you / One dance left / This world is gonna pull through / Don't give up / You've got a reason to live /
Can't forget / We only get what we give
Tell me, Crash Cart Campfire Friends:
Have you been cured of your dreamers’ disease? How can you catch it again, even in small ways?
How do you balance following dreams and staying grounded in reality?
What songs encourage you the most when you’re feeling a bit beaten down?
What’s on your mixtape?