What Matters Most

Hey there!

So the last few days have been....interesting.  I last posted Wednesday morning.  Oh wednesday....that was an interesting day.  I'm not sure if I was just freaking out because of what had happened Tuesday night, or if the reality of how much I've taken on this semester finally hit me, but I kinda had a freakout moment....for a few hours.  I ended up skipping my Infection and Immunity class (fortunately I work in the same lab as the TA, so I got caught up when I went into lab), ranted to a friend, and ended up just eating lunch and relaxing during that hour. 

I went to the physics help lab afterwards....I was there for about an hour and only got through about....2.5 problems. Then I was off again, this time to MMBIO 240.  I'm in the process of making friends with a guy there named John...fortunately we were able to talk for a few minutes before class started. I may or may not have gone off on a bit of a rant. :P 

My stress level didn't really start to decline until I got to lab...fortunately it was a really chill day -- I didn't really do much -- I think I just watched Deborah finish PCR, and then she explained the process, caught me up on the MMBIO 261 stuff, and explained one of the projects she's working on.  By that point it was time for me to leave, and I headed to the hospital for my volunteer shift.  

Even though it was an extremely stressful day, I'm glad it happened.  I was overwhelmed with how much I was dealing with -- physics, ochem (that first quiz though...*shudder*), lab, hospital shifts, etc, and finally just had to say -- okay.  I can't do this; something has to go.  So as soon as I got to the hospital, I asked if I could get rid of my same-day surgery shift, and just keep my ER shift, because my life is so crazy.  Fortunately they were super understanding, and immediately took my name off the list.  I finished my shift that night, went home, finished physics homework, went to work, and at last, after 15 hours of going non-stop, I finally got to sleep.  

Moral of the story: As I've begun this journey towards med school, I've learned that there are so many things to do as preparation.  Volunteer/patient exposure, pre-reqs, shadowing, research, service, MCAT,  maintain a high GPA.  It's tempting to try and do it all at once, but it's just not possible.  You can try, but there comes a time when you have to sit down and figure out what matters most.  My grades and my sanity are most important to me -- so I had to get rid of a volunteer shift, and change my research schedule so I could go to my ochem recitation and not fail the next quiz.  My schedule is still going to be crazy, but now I feel more confident that I can do everything that I need to.  :)