OooOooohohohoOooooOOOOh where to even BEGIN!?

I already gave a glimpse of this wild semester when I posted way back during Thanksgiving, but I must say again…it has been eventful. A plethora of thoughts and emotions stampede through my mind when I even begin to think about these past four months — so many, in fact, that I more often than not feel numb to everything and have to cerebrally reflect on how much I’ve experienced.

With that, here’s my attempt at rehashing my first senior year / PT grad school semester.

1. Grad school is hard. I was definitely expecting it to be different from my undergraduate experience, but I was not expecting such a steep learning curve.
2. I still like physical therapy (praise the LORD).
3. I very literally would not have made it if it were not for the support, encouragement, and joy of my friends in the PT program with me.
4. I must study with other people in order to do well in PT school. I swore by self-studying for the past three years of college, but now it is an absolute necessity to study with others 80% of the time in order to succeed.
5. Grades truly do not reflect one’s ability to be an excellent professional.
6. Nor do grades reflect personal worth (I knew this before, but I was challenged to deeply believe it for myself this semester).
7. Oh. so. much. about physical therapy. And we’ve only scraped the surface.
8. I kind of like PT in an acute setting, even though the class that taught acute PT interventions was r o u g h at the start for me.
9. I’ve discovered that I have poor motor control of my right thumb, potentially due to phone scrolling. Embarrassing.
10. I used to run with poor foot strike form, but Janice helped me to run with a softer forefoot strike. (Hereafter, I stop talking about PT. Thanks. Sorry.)
11. Janice also helped me to love running more and make me believe that I can be a decent runner if I wanted to be. Do I want to be though…? Question for another day.
12. I need to improve my communication skills via text / email to avoid misinterpretation, disappointment, and unintended hurt.
13. I can definitely eat overnight oats every day of my life and not get sick of them.
14. Putting shredded zucchini in my overnight oats makes my friends cringe, but it’s now one of my favorite and easiest ways to eat more vegetables (it’s like spinach in a smoothie; ya can’t taste it, I swear).
15. Praying every day is as critical to my life as breathing is, and taking 30 minutes to attend daily Mass when possible is always worth it.
16. If I am not intentional as heck (← stole that phrase from some lovely friends of mine) with seeing friends and talking to loved ones, it won’t happen in grad school. It either goes into the calendar the minute I want to make plans, or it never happens.
17. Packing breakfast / lunch / dinner for the next day takes eons. How do mothers do this for their minivan full of children???
18. Food and fitness have not been the least bit stressful to me this semester, probably because I’ve had no brain space to stress over it, and that is a beautiful thing. It’s been there for health, survival, and enjoyment, and that is it.an example of food for freakin’ enjoyment (that’s cheesecake on top of the milkshake @ Boston Burger Company)
19. Keeping up to date with current events is a big weakness of mine that I want to improve.
20. I am never alone. Every movement of the heart has been experienced by someone else and often by Jesus Christ Himself.
21. I am terrible at saying what I mean.
22. How to be a girlfriend. (!!)
23. SO MANY darn things about patience, humility, how to receive love, and how to give love, heavily due to #22.
24. How to learn from others. Yes, I learned how to learn from others. It’s called humility and openness to trying new things.
25. How to answer difficult questions and use my brain until it almost physically hurts.
26. How to utilize every last inch of a drying rack for my large loads of laundry.
27. I don’t know how to keep myself from filling my backpack to the brim with stuff every day. It looks like I’m about to hike Everest on a daily basis.
28. Best friends are faithful.
29. We’re gonna freakin’ make it.
30. Saying, “…but it’s a beautiful life,” in the midst of the most stressful moments is a good and helpful thing to do.
31. God is faithful. When God tells us, “Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,” {Is 41:10} He means it. He allows hurt and painful growth, but He always helps.

There’s no way to avoid this sounding like an Oscar acceptance speech, but guatever…

Thank you to every single person who I’ve encountered this semester; every friend who has talked, studied, ate, laughed, cried, screamed, and prayed with me; every person who prayed for me; every moment that hurt me; every moment that made me feel on top of the world; every person who genuinely loved me; every person who did a random act of kindness for me or for someone else; you for reading this; my family; and the Author of Life, who gave me the privilege of experiencing it all for yet another semester.

So tell me: What have you learned these past four months!?