Analise D Mello MBBS, MS obgyn, DNB

I have completed 37 years of being awesome! It is my birthday (22nd October), and I have always gotten excited about it since I can remember. Growing up, birthdays meant just being celebrated and meeting all my friends, new clothes, parties, games, and CAKE!!! Who doesn’t love cake?

So this birthday began with the usual—attending mass and saying a prayer—and was followed by so many wishes and gifts and a small party with friends and family and, again, CAKE!

But as I ponder on the day’s reflection, the forever, existential question pops up… what am I meant to be? Am I fulfilling my life’s purpose? Am I to do something or less?!

“I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing!
There is a baptism with which I must be baptized.
And how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!

What is my goal? a degree, a marriage, a long healthy life? OR am I here for something bigger?!

I’m sure we all have these thoughts, and now at 37 years of youth, I begin to review the way I live my life! And like Jesus was sent to earth with a mission, so have we been sent—maybe as a school worker or a nurse or a surgeon like me or a housewife—each of us is playing a role meant for the greater good and to spread the word!!! To be better humans and make life meaningful!

While I meet women at their most vulnerable on an operating table, where they consent for me to open and look inside their bodies—I know it’s my mission to work my hardest to keep them at bay from cancer or give them the longest “progression-free survival” (the word we use). I need to focus on making them comfortable and accepting what’s best for them and not imposing my knowledge on them but making them decide what they want in their life!!!

Today as you read this, just take a minute away from the screen and think—who am I? What am I here for? if you can answer them right away! That’s great, but if not, think it through every day for 5 minutes as you focus on your breathing. And once you have a small inkling—look forward!!! and focus on your mission.

Remember we are passengers; death is not the end but the transition to something better!!!

About the Author

Hello! I’m Dr Analise Maria D’ Mello, (MBBS, MS obgyn, DNB) from the beautiful state of Goa in India. I was born and raised in a Roman Catholic family, learning my prayers, catechism and Catholic values from my parents and grandmothers. I am currently practicing as an obstetrician and gynecologist for 3 years since my residency.

I often speak on anti-abortion to college students and married couples, and counsel distressed pregnant women with appropriate medical advice. I am part of the St Luke’s Medical Guild of Catholic Doctors in my state providing services in prisons, and Lenten and advent retreats for medical professionals and their families.