2019 Word of the Year

     Every time I come to write these posts, I'm in awe with how quickly the previous year passed and it's always crazy to think back on the things that happened. How I've overcome the obstacles that at one point might've kept me up. All the blessings that surprised me as I made my way through 2018. And also how well the word I selected last year fit into the theme for my year. For 2018 I had selected the word Self. I wanted it to be a year that I focused on me and my personal growth and in some ways I did an incredible job and in other parts I know I'm still a work in progress. What I do know about the year was that I learned so much about myself. I passed my first board exam, I started the last half of my medical school journey and I grew in ways I never expected. With all that up my sleeve. I'm very hopeful for what is to come this year.

     With all of the self reflection from 2018, what I learned is that sometimes I need to just take a step back. Of course being action oriented and trying to make things happen have their place (hello, that's the Type A drive that got me into medical school), but there are times that you just need to let go of the outcome. Let go of the expectations of how something is supposed to happen and trust that no matter what, what will come to you will be the best thing for you. I could go through my life and tell you all the times that I didn't get what I wanted or when what I got was so much better. How my shortcomings lead my to my greatest victories and that sometimes when you think things are falling apart they are simply doing so, so they can fall into place later. This is something that I reflected on a lot this year and what has inspired me to choose the word Trust as my word for 2019.

    This next chapter in my life is going to bring so many opportunities and excitement. This year I embark on my last full year of medical school (I graduate in the spring semester of 2020!) as well as applying for residency and deciding where I want to spend the next three years of my life. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that I've gotten to this point when it feels like I had just put on my white coat for the first time yesterday, but it is so nice to see how far I've come and how close I am to the finish line. With all this change on my path I want to trust that everything is going to work out exactly the way it needs to. To trust that I can do anything that I set my mind to and that I am being guided to where I need to be, and I know it might not be easy. I am definitely someone who wants certainty in everything, so I'm challenging myself to just go with the flow this year and just trust.

    I hope everyone had a beautiful 2018 and I hope that 2019 brings you everything that you could ever desire.

- Gen<3

Word for 2018!

 

      I honestly can't believe that it is time to write this post, because it feels like it was just a little while ago that I was picking my word for 2017. Last year, I picked the word awareness. It was something that I worked (and am still working) on cultivating in my life during the year, and although I still have plenty of work to do on this subject, I feel like I built a solid foundation. For me, 2017 was a year of being aware of the opportunities around me and I can say that I am very proud of myself. It was definitely a year of taking chances and making mistakes, but as one of my recent favorite quotes says,
     "...if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before and more importantly, you're doing something."-Neil Gaiman

     Looking back, I can say that it was a year full of life and life experiences, and to me, that seems like a year well spent. This upcoming year, is already set with many big career-oriented milestones for me (i.e. finishing my pre-clinical years of medical school and taking my first board exam), so when I was picking a word, I wanted it to fit the vibe of the year. And, the other day when I was reflecting on the year with a friend, what I was hoping for this year popped into my head. I want this year to be the year of "Self." Self-focus, self-love, self-development, self-discovery, but especially self-trust.

     For those unfamiliar with the medical field, at the end of M2 year, you have to take an exam called Step 1 in order to progress to your third year. This exam is notorious for being a beast because you are being tested on everything that you've learned in the past two years of medical school. So believe me, it's dauting to think about. But, I always try to keep optimistic that everything happens for a reason and that if I've made it this far, I can make it through the entire thing. I just have to trust that I can do it and let the rest fall into place.

    Apart from school, I feel like it's just a good year to build things up in my life. This past November, I turned 25 and it's made me think a lot about what I want to get out of life. It's rather funny because I feel older, but I know that I still have so much life to live. But, I do feel that turning a milestone age makes you reflect more on where you are currently and where you'd like to go moving forward. So, 25 will be a good year for this. I think it's a good year to spend reflecting on myself as a person and to focus on what I need.

    I hope this year brings you many great opportunities and that you do focus on yourself as well.

Take care,

- Genesis<3 

Word for 2017!

     

     One of my favorite things to do at the beginning of each year is to think about what my goals are for the year ahead. As part of that, something that I did at the start of last year was to pick a word that would be my theme for the year. I had seen it over social media and the concept of having a theme as a guiding force seemed like a cool idea. Last year, I picked the word inspire. As I was just starting out my blog and on the verge of beginning my career in medicine, I wanted to personally keep the inspiration going as well as inspire anyone else that happened to stumble upon my blog. I think I did fairly well for the most part, but I will surely admit that my first semester definitely took a toll on my blog presence, but I will definitely forgive myself for that as I was working towards other goals.

     This year, I have chosen the word awareness as my word of the year. Something that really inspired me last year was reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (I even wrote a blog post about it!) and one of the major themes was about listening to what the universe was telling you to do. Something that I've noted as I've been going through life is how everything mysteriously seems to fall into place and things are working in ways that we wouldn't even expect. A story that comes to mind when I think of this is how I met my roommate. Back when I had my first interview for medical school, my roommate and I actually interviewed on the same day. Obviously back then I had no idea that we would end up at the same school, and to be honest we didn't keep in contact. Several months after I got into my current medical school, the school had a mixer for the accepted students and that is where I met my current roommate again. I walked up to her and told her that I remembered her from interviewing at this school together. She admitted that she didn't remember, but that was because it was the first school that I had interviewed at. Regardless, we ended up getting in contact about rooming together before school started and it's been working out rather well ever since. It's crazy that out of the thousands of interviewees that could've been there on the same day as me, we ended up in the same place at the same time on both occasions. I don't know if we can exactly call it divine intervention, but it is certainly a crazy coincidence. This year, I would like to be more aware of what the universe has in the works around me as well as be aware of the things going on in my life. I'm hoping that it'll continue to show me how fortunate I am, but also guide me in my journey this year.

~Genesis<3

    

Word for 2016!

     Happy New Year! So, I hope everyone had a marvelous time ringing in the new year! Something that caught my eye this weekend as I was lounging around trying to recover from several nights of serious sleep deprivation was the "word of the year" theme on people's Instagram posts.

     Last year, I didn't specifically designate a word for the year, but If I had to choose one, I would say that my word would have been "Dare". My theme for the year was to try to step out of my comfort zone and be more daring. I aimed to try new things and not be afraid of change, and I am very happy with how the year went.

     This year, I definitely wanted to choose something meaningful as my word. I know that 2016 is going to be a big year for me. So, I chose the word "Inspire" to be my word for this year. The tail end of this past year, I really wanted to commit to doing the things that I had always wanted to do. Blogging was at the top of that list and much of why I want to keep up a blog is to be able to share my journey through medical school. This year I hope to inspire others who might be interested in the medical school route and I want to offer as much advice as I possibly can. On a more personal note, I want to be able to keep myself inspired. I want to keep up with my creative plans and I think having the word inspire at the front of my mind might help with that. Also, I want to keep inspired as I begin my journey through medical school. A piece of advice that pretty much any med student has given me along the way is to prepare myself, as medical school can get insane. I want to remain inspired throughout my journey, but especially when it might be easy to forget why I am doing this in the first place. Hopefully, my word inspires you to pick a word to motivate your journey for this year, and I hope that it is an incredible year:)

~Genesis<3