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Surgeon Toomas Aro: 'I'm like a big, heavy airplane, slowly landing, on wheels, not on my belly'
🇪🇪 Estonia /Culture & Society

Surgeon Toomas Aro: 'I'm like a big, heavy airplane, slowly landing, on wheels, not on my belly'

From Postimees · () Estonian

Translated from Estonian, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

Interview Sources not specified Context piece
  • Surgeon Toomas Aro reflects on happiness, defining it as working in a beloved profession with a supportive home environment.
  • He humorously recounts an interaction where he asserted he eats at home, not at a gas station.
  • Aro is in the process of a gradual, controlled landing in his career, akin to a large aircraft returning to the runway.

Estonian surgeon Toomas Aro likens his current career phase to a large, heavy airplane making a slow, controlled descent, aiming for a smooth landing on its wheels rather than crashing onto its belly. This metaphor captures his deliberate approach to winding down his professional life.

He said that happiness is working in a beloved profession.

— Toomas AroRecalling a former professor's definition of happiness.

Aro recalls a former professor of topographic anatomy who defined happiness as working in a beloved profession. Applying this to his own life, Aro suggests that happiness stems from professional fulfillment coupled with a supportive home life. "If your work goes well and you have a supportive home to go to afterwards... that you don't have to eat at a gas station, then yes," he mused.

If your work goes well and you have a supportive home to go to afterwards... that you don't have to eat at a gas station, then yes.

— Toomas AroDefining the conditions for happiness in his life.

He shared a humorous anecdote about being asked at a gas station if he wanted food. His reply, "I eat at home, why would I eat at your place!?" highlights his preference for the comforts of home and perhaps a subtle critique of convenience over quality. This personal touch adds a layer of warmth to his reflections on career and well-being.

I eat at home, why would I eat at your place!?

— Toomas AroResponding humorously to an offer of food at a gas station.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Postimees in Estonian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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