I'm struggling somewhat to figure out this PA business. It's tough being a student. I've probably said that a million times by now. It's challenging to maintain enthusiasm throughout the day when I'm hungry and tired and sick of hearing about other people's problems. My patience runs short on patients when I'm hangry and have been on my feet for several hours. I'm sorry. I wish I could say I love every minute of it, but it's stretching me. I guess that means I'm growing. Like an athlete I'm building endurance and stamina without getting burned out in the process I hope. Everyone has those days, right? When a vacation sounds nice and/or the temptation of staying in bed is nearly insurmountable...
I want to excel. Really and truly, I strive for perfection. I fall woefully short. I've been known to beat myself up over this sense of failure and inadequacy when I don't make the grade. So I'm learning to extend myself grace and accept forgiveness when I miss the mark and don't meet the high standard I set and hold myself to. I want to impress, but I need to recognize making a good impression has less to do with knowing all the right answers and more to do with treating everyone with care and respect. Academia is hard. You spend years being conditioned to achieve to answer questions appropriately for a superb grade. Out in the workplace, you are graded in a different way on evaluations. It's not always about how smart you are. No one is perfect. Yet there seems to be more pressure these days to be successful in a career, relationships, community, finances, etc. We make comparisons, but who really lives up to all that all the time? Deep down, no one. And that's ok. That's why we need grace and forgiveness and the humility to say I'm sorry.
Remember tomorrow is a new day if we are blessed to receive it. (Lamentations 3:21-23)
I am practicing an attitude of gratitude to stave off my bemoaning the perils of student life constantly. 5 things today I am thankful for: coffee, a comfy bed, health, being able to run, cookie dough icecream. It's the simple things in life we take for granted. The gratefulness list could be a million posts, but I probably shouldn't ramble on that long.
Showing posts with label School. Show all posts
Showing posts with label School. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Endings and New Beginnings
It's been at least a year since I've posted a blog. I haven't been writing much lately with the exception of trying to crank out a massive literature review assignment precisely because I've been so busy with my graduate school program of studying to be a PA. I've decided to start blogging again and revamp the site in an effort to chronicle my experiences in the clinical year of my program. I'm starting over again with new adventures.
Every 2-8 weeks or so I'll be beginning a new clinical rotation at a different site in a different area of medicine. Basically I'll have a nomadic lifestyle - carting my suitcase around in my car while I eat, sleep, and breathe medicine. I'm leaving the apartment I've had in Waukesha for the last year where I attended class and won't have a place of my own for several month. Rather, I'm staying with family and some other good souls that are willing to adopt me over the course of the year to provide me with housing for my endeavors that will take me all over the southern half of the state.
With all the change and transition this will entail, I make no promises as to frequency of posts. But I hope this can be a way for my friends to keep tabs on where I am and how I'm doing. If nothing else, it will be neat to reflect on once I'm out of this school/training business and back into the "real world" with a career in health care somewhere to be determined.
It's been suggested by curious friends that because I'm moving around so much and it's hard to know where I'll be when, I should have a GPS system or app of some kind to reveal those details to only people to whom I reveal the secret password in an effort to prevent unsavory characters from hunting me down with said tracking device. This record may be a reasonable alternative--less hassle at least.
Today marks my last day of the didactic year. My classroom setting will change dramatically form the same room at the university graduate center to the clinic and hospital environment in just a few weeks.
Tomorrow I'll be headed to Toronto, Canada for a national PA conference that they hold annually. Shortly after I return, I'll be preparing to go on my first rotation in Beaver Dam for Pediatrics.
Stay tuned.
Disclaimer: Due to confidentially reasons, no patient or provider personal information will be included in any of my posts.
Every 2-8 weeks or so I'll be beginning a new clinical rotation at a different site in a different area of medicine. Basically I'll have a nomadic lifestyle - carting my suitcase around in my car while I eat, sleep, and breathe medicine. I'm leaving the apartment I've had in Waukesha for the last year where I attended class and won't have a place of my own for several month. Rather, I'm staying with family and some other good souls that are willing to adopt me over the course of the year to provide me with housing for my endeavors that will take me all over the southern half of the state.
With all the change and transition this will entail, I make no promises as to frequency of posts. But I hope this can be a way for my friends to keep tabs on where I am and how I'm doing. If nothing else, it will be neat to reflect on once I'm out of this school/training business and back into the "real world" with a career in health care somewhere to be determined.
It's been suggested by curious friends that because I'm moving around so much and it's hard to know where I'll be when, I should have a GPS system or app of some kind to reveal those details to only people to whom I reveal the secret password in an effort to prevent unsavory characters from hunting me down with said tracking device. This record may be a reasonable alternative--less hassle at least.
Today marks my last day of the didactic year. My classroom setting will change dramatically form the same room at the university graduate center to the clinic and hospital environment in just a few weeks.
Tomorrow I'll be headed to Toronto, Canada for a national PA conference that they hold annually. Shortly after I return, I'll be preparing to go on my first rotation in Beaver Dam for Pediatrics.
Stay tuned.
Disclaimer: Due to confidentially reasons, no patient or provider personal information will be included in any of my posts.
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