I had a goal this year to write at least one blog post a month, which considering how much time I have been devoting into school the last couple of years, a blog a month seemed ambitious. But it also seemed reasonable. And yet, again here is June and it’s the last day… and I’m thinking ‘I haven’t posted a blog!’ June has been busy, to say the least.
So this one may be on the short side, but it should be noted that I have a lot of feels the last few weeks. About five years ago, I decided what I ‘want to be when I grow up’ and at the time it seemed far fetched. I was a former fat girl, who craftily avoided all the serious science classes, because I wasn’t sure I could do science. And despite the fact that I really liked nutrition, and healing arts… the idea of actually going and getting a real, honest to goodness, Master of science degree in nutrition? That seemed out of my league. It would require at least a year of extra prerequisite classes in biology, chemistry, and statistics, before even getting into a graduate program, which would require an additional two years course work.
Every step of this journey has been with trepidation, and inching my way out into what felt completely over my head.
I remember a friend, who at the time was working on her medical residency, once tell me that ‘doctors aren’t any smarter than other people, but they mostly just work really, really hard.’ I couldn’t really seem to grasp that this was true. Surely there must be some secret ‘science gene’ that makes people in medicine smarter than the rest of us, and lets them know things the rest of us don’t. And it’s true, some people are incredibly gifted in certain ways, but many (and probably most) people in medicine just have a passion and curiosity to keep asking questions and keep putting in the work. (And I might add, they frequently have the social, spiritual, and relational support to accomplish the goal at hand.)
Turns out, my friend was vastly right. It took a lot of sweat and tears, and late nights, but the hard work (and a lot of wonderful family, friend and divine support) did produce a degree, and at least this chapter in the journey is complete.
I’m not sure if it’s really set in, but going and doing the full-wizard-robe thing, does help.
Excited isn’t quite the right word to describe how I feel about this adventure. Thankful, overwhelmed, and exhilarated, to see what will be next, is a start? But even that doesn’t quite capture the feels. Lots of gratitude for all the wonderful support I had, because passion, and curiosity, and work can go a long ways, but they can only go so far, and I am incredibly aware of how much I benefit from the help of wonderful others.
Anyway, this was June. Hope that you have as many good feels in your June as well, and I’m looking forward to keeping you posted on the next steps.
Onward,
~Elle