Seeing [and Feeling] is Believing

Hello everyone! Gosh it has been such a long time since I have sat down at my computer screen and in front of my website. It has been on my mind to do a post and I am finally sitting down on this cold, snowy, Canadian winter morning to give you all a much needed update.

In the last two months, my life has changed so much. I have moved countries, I am prepping for the biggest exam of my life, got engaged, planning a wedding, got a nasty cold [and still fighting it], and getting excited for the holidays at home. It is such a crazy time and as I sit back and think about my life, all I can say is: "wow". Looking back in my last two years of schooling, exactly two years ago I attended the MERP program in North York, Ontario, then another sixteen months on the beautiful island of Dominica, and waking up in my bed today at my parents' ranch, I had to ask myself: "Did all this really happen?" "Was this all a dream?". It happened SO fast and I always make a point to tell prospective medical students that the time will pass anyway, and in med school, I honestly feel like you are in a twilight zone..time passes quickly. Never set a limit on your education, occupation, passion, or anything that is important to you, because of the time factor. NEVER let that be a deciding point against fulfilling what you truly want in life. DO IT. You will be so happy you immersed yourself wholeheartedly and jumped in with both feet. That I promise you. 

So as I sit here in Canada, and Stephen is in Toronto [I have not seen him or Domi since the flight to Toronto three weeks ago- I know, it's killing me], I have time to really sit and think about my next steps. As soon as I got to the farm, I slept for a week. I am not kidding guys, I went to bed at 9pm and probably woke up at 12pm that next day. I did that for a solid week and it made me realize how tired I was from the island. Moving out of an apartment we had for a good year and a half, then packing everything up into one backpack and one checked bag each, you can already assume we gave a lot of stuff away. We donated a huge chunk of our clothes, food, miscellaneous things to a wonderful lady named Christine, who is my lovely Shacks lady, who fed me the best veggie taco bowls of life. I miss them so much already. [Check out my youtube campus tour video where I point out where to get them on island!] Being home made me realize that life is so precious and that I needed to slow down a bit, I have been go, go, go for about two full years and that is not an exaggeration. I need to take a deep breath and decide on what my plan is for the months that I am home.

After sleeping for that week, I knew it was time to make my calendar for the end of November and for the month of December, and whoa, it was extremely tight to get everything in that I wanted to. My previous test date was Dec. 20th, a week from today. I knew that I would be exhausted from trying to cram everything in and do sixteen hour days up until exam day. I have decided to push back my test date until mid February and start the March IMF, instead of taking the exam next week and attending January IMF. IMF is a quick six week preliminary course all Ross students have to pass before entering clinicals, it is based in Miramar, Florida and transitions us from basic science to the clinical aspect of medicine. I am really happy we have a course like this instead of being thrown into the clinical world without really knowing what our responsibilities are for the next year.

So here I sit, with a brand new calendar beside me that is much more favorable and it feels like I can finally enjoy home. I have not been home for more than a couple weeks in about five years, and it feels so nice to be able to wake up and spend time with my family. I am extremely happy that I chose to push my Step 1 exam back and I had to really listen to my body and mind to come to the final decision. That is why I so cleverly titled this blog post, seeing and feeling is believing, as you have to truly listen to yourself and feel comfortable in your life choices. Try not to listen to anyone else, or take each person's advice and respect their opinion, but at the end of the day, you have to do what's best for you. If there is one thing that I want you all to take away from this post, is that you are in control of your own life. You have the ability to be your own solution in this crazy world of ours and you also have the ability to live the life you want, and that is a beautiful thing. Do what feels right for you, and be content with knowing that whatever you choose, YOU have made that final decision, and no one else. 

Off to do some Uworld questions! The learning never stops, and it shouldn't! 

Bye for now,
-E xo

Pics! My little sister, Savannah, along with being a teacher, is starting a photography business as well! Follow her on facebook and instagram: Warrior Prints Photography. Here are some pictures from our fun photo-shoot a couple days ago!  No editing has been done on these !