Optometry school isn’t always just learning about eyeballs. It’s about learning how to deal with the ups and downs life gives you along the way. To me, this journey has been completely different compared to undergrad. I’m living further away from home now than I ever have. So, when something comes up and I just want to go home, I have to learn how to handle it the best that I can from afar.
Life isn’t always rainbows and sunshine, but we have to go through our darkest days in order to appreciate the good. I recently have been learning how to deal with a very dramatic event that has taken up the majority of my thoughts throughout the day. However, we also recently received our professional headshot pictures that we took a couple of months ago. At that point, it really started to feel real. This tough time that I’m going through is only a bump in the road. The overall goal of becoming an OD is so close that it’s truly starting to become tangible, at this point. Studying for Boards Part 1, which is at the end of March, is becoming real. I need to learn how to push my other thoughts aside in order to focus all of my time on studying for this test. But, at the same time, it’s also making me realize just how far I’ve truly come.
There are so many different emotions that I’ve had to deal with throughout my journey here at ICO- some good, some bad, some very ugly. I can’t say it has been easy- quite the opposite. However, I believe that I’m learning from it all. Any day, I could receive life-changing news, such as I might have to deliver to a patient. To be honest, it could mean a lot to a patient- how you give the information, how you give advice, and how to deal with such difficult information.
These years here have easily been my hardest, with long nights of studying, accepting things that we really just don’t want to have to accept, and learning to deal with difficult news. I keep reminding myself that the best is yet to come. So keep pushing, fellow students. It’s all going to be so worth it in the end.