What happened this year? 

        Too much and not enough! Yes, at the same time! :D 

        This year, as always, was quite eventful. In addition to continuing the usual classes and extracurriculars, I also took my MCAT and applied for Medical Schools! I feel like everything that I’ve been working towards over the past few years has started kicking into gear. Now, as the finish line of my undergraduate career approaches, I can begin to relax. Not in the sense that I want to kick back. No, I still want to finish strong and continue stronger. But in the sense that I can now begin reaping some of the rewards of the effort I put in at UC. 

        Having said that, there’s still a lot of work to be done. Now that I have a little bit of free time on my hands (after the MCAT), and that I have a better understanding of how much I can do with my time (after the MCAT!), I can turn to all of the side-hustle/projects I’ve been daydreaming about for so long. 

 

What did I learn this year? 

        As cliche as this sounds, I learned to focus on the things I love doing instead of what others are doing. In the pre-medical field (as in other fields, I imagine), people might feel pressure to pursue opportunities that are considered “minimum requirements” to be seen as competitive in the field. That’s how I felt anyway, but I think that is one of the major problems that made this year a little harder than it needed to be. 

        Another thing I learned was the importance of remembering yourself while thinking about other people. Forgetting yourself can be one side effect of learning how to regulate your emotions. It’s as if it becomes easy to take your emotions for granted because you feel you can control and change them. In some respects, this is true and fair, but in other respects, it doesn’t have to be this way. Imagine what your life might be like if you didn’t have to maneuver your emotions around certain people or commitments. Wouldn’t it be nice if you tried to keep you happy along with others? Just food for thought :) 

        Both of these are very obvious lessons in hindsight. We are told this all the time: “Do what you love,” “Don’t try to keep everyone happy.” Oftentimes though, we have to experience things for ourselves to internalize the lessons we draw from them. So here’s to a future with more internalized lessons! :D 

 

What now? 

        Moving forwards, I would like to use my time to try and chase after some of the daydreams I’ve been having for so long! I’d like to become more of a doer than I currently am. That might help me with the amount of ideas I get, then get excited about, then push to the back of my mind as I get carried away with life. That is how I intend to “do things that I love”. That is how I intend to take care of myself. I hope this will be the start of a great journey where I focus a little more on realizing my personal aspirations rather than just my professional ones. After all, it seems like a crucial skill of a global scholar.