Living and Learning

So a quick catch-up as I haven't published anything for quite some time!  I am in my third year of veterinary school at Washington State University.  This is a dream come true, and in less than a month I will be starting my fourth and final year.  Over the past few years, there have been some major ups, and some major downs.  

Recently, I decided to close-down my social media accounts.  While I currently have the option of always re-activating them, my Facebook and Snap Chat are all off-line and unavailable.  After I get through the stress of finals, I may reconsider this move but currently they add more stress and anxiety than I need in my life.

You may or may not agree with my thoughts/feelings.  You may or may not even read this blog - I am not writing it for anyone's benefit but mine at this time.  I am finding I need to re-discover my voice.  I need to find how to make my heart sing again as I have been feeling stifled by the lack of creativity and diversity that has become life in veterinary school.

Prior to veterinary school my life has always had multiple facets that defined how I viewed myself.  I have always been a musician, a volunteer, a member of my community, and a hard-worker.  Lately I have forgotten this and have believed that I am just a veterinary student.  After all, my entire life is defined by the hours I spend in class, in the hospital, or studying.  Occasionally, okay more often than just occasionally, I watch tv.  Day after day, rinse and repeat.  I can't tell you the last time I baked, sewed, played a piano, or did anything with non-veterinary friends that had nothing to do with veterinary-based topics.  The past few weeks I've realized how utterly confining and overly claustrophobic this view of myself is!  So I've been trying to pick up my guitar and finally learn how to play that damn F-major chord!  I've been thinking about ways that, even if it isn't until post-graduation, I can get involved with teaching sewing in PACT or some other project leadership position.  Besides, having to help teach sewing might help me finish some of the projects I've had in my sewing box for the last few years.  Good fabric and patterns just going to waste!

My big point right now is that I need to be more than just a veterinary student.  I need to be more than this one-dimensional identify that I have allowed myself to be reduced to.  And I take full blame for this as I have not fought tooth and nail to fight the stigma that while in veterinary school your whole life has to be devoted to veterinary school.  But right now I face this final year with a new song in my heart.  One that remembers how much fun it was to teach piano lessons to elementary school students.  One that remembers how I used to enjoy all the hours of volunteer work that I did in Manhattan and Brooklyn.  One that remembers how rewarding it is to have relationships that were based on discussions and not how many likes we give each other on Facebook, in which we base our entire newsfeed as the ultimate source of what is going on in each others lives.