When texting and tweeting became a part of our daily lives, I can't say that I thought they would have much value in terms of effective communication. Let's face it, they are both, in many ways, highly impersonal and almost passive-aggressive at times. They also contribute to what is rapidly becoming a wide-diameter firehose of digital data that is exceedingly difficult to control.

For many, texts and tweets have become the bane of our existence.

But I have come to appreciate both of them. Their benefit may not lie in the ease of interaction, but in the skills that can be gained. Brevity is everything.

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After just four days of the London Olympics, we have already seen a number of incredible performances. We have also heard the tales of quite a few Olympians whose epic journeys have brought them to this place in time and sport history. We’ve laughed and we’ve cried.

Some of those stories are admittedly pretty dramatic. Awe-inspiring. Motivational. Each and every Olympian would appear to have a dramatic journey that brought them to London.

Every couple of years, the media do a great job of presenting us with two weeks worth of human interest stories.

But what about the other 102 weeks?

If nothing else, the Olympics should serve to remind us of one important fact: Olympian or otherwise, we all have a story to tell.

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Hey, I know you. You are a rational, logical person. You have followed a series of methodical, logical steps in your clinical decision-making. Your thought processes have brought you to the edge of the proverbial cliff in your thinking.

You glance over the edge. It's a big jump, a bit of a leap of faith if you will, to make the next step.

There is one logical step to make to move forward. But what happens when you walk to the edge? Do you take the step forward and follow your clinical reasoning through to its next logical progression? Or do you step back from the edge?

Welcome to one of the biggest challenges in clinical reasoning - and life in general.

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Life provides us with a myriad of choices and interactions on a daily basis. While we rumble along on our daily journey, we carry with us our hopes, our dreams, our perceptions, and our very own map of reality.

Each and every day, our greatest challenge isn’t the difficult patient, or the perplexing business project, or even the difficulties we may face with a spouse, friend, or family member. Those are minor details in the grand scheme of things.

Our greatest challenge is ourselves.

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