Hello! Oh my goodness, I can't believe it's been so long since I've taken the chance to make a blog post, but I'm sure we all know what the usual culprit is. I am about a month away from reaching the half-way mark of M2 year and it's crazy to think that 7 months from now I will be half-way done with medical school and on to the wards! This past week has been a bit crazy as I took a lot of time off to celebrate my birthday. But thankfully, I'm not terribly behind schedule and this current week will have plenty of downtime for me to catch up.
1. M2 Year
I seriously can't believe how fast this semester is going. Like I mentioned above, we are about to enter our final stretch of the semester and I feel like the past couple months have just been me getting used to the new course material and incorporating more of the doctoring part of medicine. As we approach January, Step 1 is going to be very present as it'll be time to get down to business. Thus far, I mustered up the courage to select my test date and now I'll just have to get my schedule ready to start the Step grind. Overall, I feel like I've enjoyed M2 year more than M1. I would say mostly because we've had way more downtime than we did last year and also I feel like I know what I'm doing more so than last year.
2. Thinking about specialties
I know it's rediculously early for this, but this semester I've been thinking a lot about what I want path I would like to pursue. I've had the pleasure of working with a neonatologist in the NICU and I've really enjoyed it. I feel like my heart is still pretty set on peds, but I want to keep my options open until I go through my clerkships next year. So far, I feel like the pediatric environment just fits who I am and I'm excited to see more of it next year.
3. Turning 25
So, I swear I've been on the mindset that I was 25 since January, but last week I officially turned 25. Talking to my friends about it, it feels like a good age. I am still young enough to feel like I still have my whole life ahead of me, but old enough to feel wise about the places I'm going. There's definitely a lot of learning still going on, but I feel I've become more confident in doing the things that I need to do for myself, so that has been really nice.
4. Gratitude
In my last "On My Differential" post, I addressed mindfulness and that is something that I've been working on. One of the main things that comes up with mindfulness is gratitude and with the thanksgiving holiday coming up, I feel this has been on my mind. I am very thankful for the place that I am in my life and even on the crappy days I try to remember that I am exactly where I need to be. That and I am defintely feeling very blessed for all the great people I have in my life and the opportunities I have been given. So, I just want to carry that with me as I continue on in to the trickier parts of this school year.
I know this was a short post, but I feel like I will want to do separate posts about some of the topics above as well as other things that have come up as I've been going through this academic year. I am still working on what I would like to have on this blog, and I'm hoping I can be a bit better about posting!
Take care,
Genesis<3
