Next Phase is on the Horizon

The grueling week is over.  Nine finals later.  It is hard to believe I made it through, particularly with my poor attitude early in the quarter.  The process of being in your seat at 7:20 most mornings during the week and to remain there for extended periods of time is taxing.  It leaves you feeling wrecked and useless at the end of the day.  But, you have to find a way to plant your butt back in a seat in the evening to pick through the notes of the day.  If you don't do this you scramble at the end of the quarter and gain 25 pounds from the experience.

The lifestyle of a graduate student is quite sedentary and much different than I am used to living my life.  To make it through this program without being completely drained of all life is going to be my largest challenge.  When I start slipping into the depths of exhaustion, I tend to get a bad attitude.  That turns into less motivation to study, a poor attitude about school and a negative perspective about the process.  There needs to be balance when pursuing this type of path.  If not, you'll find yourself in a weird predicament by the time graduation rolls around.

That being said, I only have 10 quarters left to complete.  This means I will be done in mid-September 2011.  That is only 2 years and 6 months from now!  I spent 3 1/2 years in Boise to get my undergraduate degree and 3 1/2 years in Flagstaff Arizona prior.  When I look back at the time that has passed I see the next 2.5 years going by pretty quick.  Just two months ago we were taking finals from our first quarter!  Now, we get a well deserved break.  Next quarter will break some students.  It looks like there will be 5 science-based courses and some chiropractic intermixed in.  We begin adjusting the thoracic spine which will integrate our high velocity low amplitude adjusting skills we learned this quarter.  The program really builds on itself.

Ten lessons I have learned from this quarter and last quarter:

1.  Don't open your mouth and spout unnecessary things when you don't know who you are talking to.

2.  Stand up for what you believe in.

3.  Eat something before anatomy lab.

4.  Start a business plan now so that the future is more clear (which I am doing during the break)

5.  It is okay to relax and have fun.

6.  Ignorance is a habit.

7.  Our profession has issues that I can't fix.

8.  My actions speak louder than my opinions.

9.  I need to write myself a training plan so that I don't get fat.

10.  I can't think of a better path for me to take.

With that, I will sign off and take a deserved nap!  I will update when school begins in two weeks from now.

All my best,

Nate