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The Final 4 Weeks

It's finally here, the final stretch to graduation.

How will that change my daily life?

I will not be commuting to Santa Fe four days a week. Total time spent each week in the car, 12 hours. That number can be bigger if there is a wreck, which there, sadly, often is.

I will not be worried about random points being taken off of projects for reasons defying logic.

I will not be avoiding the constant drama that seems to surround the students with whom I attend Oriental Medical school.  There is insanity at the highest levels which filters down into the lives of students, who really just want to study the medicine and not be charged for every.single.little thing, at a premium.

I will not be second guessing myself on a daily basis in terms of how I look at, practice and honor this medicine. (I will always want to be the very best practitioner I can, so I will hold myself to the highest standards, which involves constant review of decisions...but not second guessing.)

I will....awaken each morning and contemplate what I have learned, what more I need to study, and how much I need to review for the next national exam. There will be 4 of those, and the dreaded state exam, as well, so I will have plenty to contemplate there.

I will walk in my garden, eat breakfast with my husband, and determine how far to run after I do my morning yoga session, and how long to meditate in the later afternoon when my brain has overflowed from study, and it is time to reflect and breathe.

I will reconnect with food preparation. I love to cook, and recent months have exhausted me to the point where I am nearly apathetic about my passion. This will change, and I look forward to planning simple, healthy meals that will nourish and strengthen us.

I will surprise my husband with lunch, from time to time, and let him know I am thinking of him and appreciate his support of my herculean efforts to become a D.O.M.

I will reach out to friends and former colleagues with whom I have lost connection during these last years, and I will reestablish bonds and begin to nurture those relationships once more.

I will appreciate not being a car 12+ hours per week, and I will appreciate living a life where a decision like mine, a decision to completely upend my career and head in a direction that my heart had yearned for for decades, is possible.

That is all for now.

 Hugs,
Stevie
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