As always, I feel that I'm constantly apologizing for being absent on the blog, but hey, I'm a medical student. I'm not perfect and I'm trying to balance everything on my plate as best as I can. So despite not being the most consistent, I certainly love to check in every now and then. Like now:)
Let me just say that the first year of medical school feels like a blur. Fall semester seemed to trudge along, but then it picked up in full-force spring semester, and in the blink of an eye, I was in the midst of finals. It's actually a tad frightening because it makes me realize that before I know it, I'll be graduating and going into the world to actually take care of patients, which at this point in my training, seems crazy. But yet, somehow it'll happen.
Looking back on M1 year, I can say it wasn't exactly what I had expected. When I imagined medical school, I envisioned being constantly miserable, overwhelmed, and possibly having regret over making this decision. I'll admit there were some trying moments, but for the most part my experience was positive. I do believe it has a lot to do with my approach to school. You see, our curriculum is pass/fail. So, at the end of the day I always told myself that as long as I passed, I was okay. I would always set my standards as high as I could, but if it didn't go as planned, I wouldn't beat myself up over it. We all have our off days and medical school isn't easy. So, if you don't get an amazing score every time, it's okay. I'm incredibly thankful to say that I passed all of my exams this past year. Sometimes I did incredibly well and some exams got the best of me. Regardless of the outcome, every exam was a step closer in my journey. Another tally I could etch onto my sheet of accomplishments. And having successfully come out on the other side of the year, I know that I have it in me to keep going.
Now that I have the chance to look back, I'm pretty content with the year. Of course, there are some situations I wish I could've approached differently, but I think overall I did a decent job balancing what I could, especially second semester. I always tried to make time for myself, squeezed in time for my friends and family when I got the chance, and I made it a priority to keep myself healthy. I'm not going to say doing all of the above was easy, because it wasn't. There were many times that I would rather have spent with my friends at our Sunday dinners or at home enjoying time with my family. But, I know that the profession that I have chosen will come with a lot of sacrifices, yet will yield many rewards. So, I held on to that notion and kept pushing through. And somehow, it has worked out.
Getting to the end of the year felt amazing and you better believe we celebrated accordingly. Our class rented a boat for us to cruise around Lake Michigan, and let's just say that mixing an open bar and medical students can lead to very interesting times. But spending time with my classmates and some of my closest friends celebrating the end of the struggle was a great way to close out the year and get ourselves set for our last summer break.
Looking forward, I know that M2 year is going to have it's own challenges (ahem, Step 1), but I'm excited to see what the next phase of my medical training will bring. From what the upperclassmen have told me, it'l be way more clinically focused. We will be learning all of the skills that will be put into use during our clinical rotations come M3 year and we will also be tested on how to perform a physical exam, diagnose patients, write prescriptions...you get the idea. It'll be scary because doing things for the first time can be nerve wracking, but exciting because this is exactly what I signed up for. Hopefully, by the time I finish step I will feel more like a doctor-in-training and not just a student, but I still have plenty of time before that time comes around.
So, if you like following me on this crazy journey, stay tuned. It's about to get way more exciting.
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