Well, hello there, so good to see you in 2014!
This semester is going to be a fun one. Third years have a little academic exercise in March called National Boards…should be a piece of cake, hmm? (Ha!) I’m sure I’ll be talking about that more a little bit later.
But as a sign of how far I’ve come, I’ve had a few noteworthy circle-of-life moments recently. Early on in the semester, SCO had a legislative reception to show some of our local and state representatives our new academic complex. ssTAOP (the Student Society of the Tennessee Association of Optometric Physicians, if you recall) was invited to participate, and it was a fantastic way to meet a few of our legislators and Tennessee doctors.
After a few years of being in TAOP, I can say that I’ve learned a lot about how to interact with legislators and practicing doctors. As a happy introvert, meeting people in group settings has always been rather difficult for me. So, imagine me and my first year self, tossed into a circumstance in which all sorts of legislators and optometry enthusiasts were mingling merrily in Nashville, and I had no idea where to begin, or even how to start. Luckily, however, there was a third year around who let me follow her as she worked the crowd.
Fast forward to that legislative reception later on. At some point, I noticed that one of the first years was in similar straits, so I approached her. “Have you talked to anyone yet?”
“No, not really,” she said.
“Well then, let’s talk to some legislators,” I said, and we approached a representative from West Tennessee. She did wonderfully.
The other moment came after a recent SVOSH meeting. Another first year asked me, “You seem to be really involved in a lot of things on campus – how do you balance it all?”
I had to smile after that encounter, because I can remember asking that very same question, verbatim, to the SVOSH Vice President at the time (come to think of it, he was a Student Ambassador as well…), and there I stood, roles reversed.
And I answered him this way just as I was once answered. Balance is a very important part of optometry school. You do have to find your own unique balance between all sorts of different pressures: academic, group, social, family, health, etc. Thus, it is different for each person. But, I can say that being balanced now will help you much later, when those same pressures are still present, but amplified (soon, you’ll be a doctor, after all!)
Yes, academics are highly important. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. However, consider this, too. You can learn so much about optometry outside of the classroom. By joining different types of clubs on campus, you can begin to fold so many perspectives on optometry into your own repertoire of knowledge, thus making you a more informed and more capable doctor. Furthermore, often these clubs will open doors for you in ways you won’t realize until you’ve stepped through them.
So, all in all, don’t be afraid of busy. Busy is good. By incorporating additional commitments into your balance (if you can), and by learning to find that balance between all these commitments, you will make yourself a much stronger student, and more importantly, a better doctor one day.
And so the circle of optometry school life keeps turning. Fresh first years will eventually give way to third years who run the student body, and in turn those third years make quick transitions to fourth year externs and finally doctorhood. It really is quite amazing to consider, and it seems like it just happens in the blink of an eye.
Speaking of which… in a blink of an eye it will probably be the morning of March 18. On that note, I should probably return to studying for boards! We’ll chat again soon. In the meantime, dear friends…be wonderful!