I think that, if you have the choice, you should do what you want to do, what you really love, not what you have to do or what someone else wants you to do, or what society expects you to do.

If you think you can give it a try, I suggest you try to push it a bit further - your medical studies I mean. Who know, maybe if you go a bit more, you might find that you do actually like it and you would have regretted it if you had thrown it away earlier.

But if you are [I]really[I] sure that you don't want to go on - and you have the choice - then you should listen to your heart.

It's difficult to go through medical school if you're not totally in love with it, but it's a million times more difficult to work as a doctor if it's not what you're totally in love with and that you're willing to give up a lot for. It's not fair for you, and it also won't be fair to your future patients.

If it means anything, I'm a junior doctor (just 1 year out of med school) who only took up medicine because my exam results were a bit good, and my society expects smart people to become doctors. Yeah, and I was a bit big headed at the time and only thought of the money, status and glory (so serves me right huh) Where I'm from, I don't have the choice to quit because I hate it. We're not even allowed to quit if we're depressed - unless we commit suicide which a few young doctors have done, and which many contemplate of doing (and we're supposed to be the people who treat other peoples illnesses!?)

While you're making your decision (if you haven't already), just think of me While I'm writing this, I'm depressed at the prospect of starting my oncall in just 4 hours time in a new department where I will be in charge of ~60 very sick patients. And after my oncall, for the next month at least, I will be waking up at 4 am, starting work at 5 am and hardly get to sit down (or even go to the toilet!) until 6pm (if I'm lucky). Oh and despite all that I will still be screamed at by my consultant every day and called an untrustworthy, lazy bum.

That's a junior doctors life in the third world for you...But maybe things are different where you're from?

One of my friends started writing when he was depressed as a medical student and as a doctor.

'Crescent Moon Parables' by Abdul Hafizh Mohd Zubir, on amazon's kindle.

The book is quite good I think, and if you're a med student, maybe you can detect some of the not-so-subtle references to the depressing parts of being in the medical field in his writing...And some of the funny ideas that go through the minds of people like us.

All the best in life