Year two success story!

I think if I had to impart one piece of wisdom on how to get through 2nd year it would be: be prepared to change everything and figure out how you study again. Year two is fast paced and relentless. There is a new way of prioritizing that is completely different from year one… 

Personally, I had to relearn how I study. I used to reread the powerpoints and write down important info into spiral notebooks (I have a billion of them now- anyone need kindling?) But I never went back to look at them. It was faster to ctrl+f in my Onenote. This got me through HUBI/1st year pretty well. 

 

 

However- when I got to second year, especially for my pathology class, this wasn’t cutting it anymore. Then I discovered how I really learn. I’m a combo of kinetics and visual. So I started making what I refer to as “boxes”. I used powerpoint and grouped like pathologies together and put each pathology into a different colored box to delineate the different pathologies. They were pretty popular, if you don’t mind me saying. However, they are time intensive and kinda fell off towards the end of quarter 6… oopsie. Sad face.

 

— I tried to upload a picture… it didn’t work. 

Anywho- just make sure to be flexible enough to relearn how to study and don’t keep beating your brain into submission. Just try to find new ways to learn. There is definitely a new learning curve for year two and be patient with yourself. 🙂 

** Onward and upward

The theme for July is reflection on the last year. Its been a whirlwind. I’m pretty much finished with year two of medical school, which means I have 2 more years to go. This year really tried me. Its amazing how things can change so much, so fast.

The beautiful thing about year two was all the newness. I met new people and made new friends, I developed new ways of handling all the information that was hurled at us. I branched out and experienced new things. And we started to learn modalities.

Acupuncture, Bot med, and good times.

My favorite part was that I am starting to feel like I’m in medical school, and not just taking a really rigorous anatomy program. This year I have adjusted people’s joints, stimulated people’s parasympathetic nervous system, learned why we have way more autoimmune/cancer/diseases of lifestyle than ever before, and finally learned what all those vitamins and nutrients can do for you.

I think I’ve finally got a good hold on a proper intake and the right questions to ask to get the information about pathologies. I’ve also started to learn to think like a doctor. All these things are really exciting. I’m just one step closer to my goal and I can’t wait to learn more!

Next year/next quarter is my last quarter of only classes – then I get to go into the clinic and really learn how to be a doctor. But this next quarter is where I start to learn the magic of our medicine. I get to learn, not just the basics of our modalities, but the application of them. I’m so excited to gain this deeper knowledge of diseases and the human body. I think year 3 will breathe new life into me and a whole new understanding of what a naturopath is.