First Post!

I don't have a catchy phrase to start off with because I'm too much of a dork to pull one off, but I can promise you genuine material! I feel like the 500 character limit on the description of this blog is not enough to fully explain its purpose, so I've decided to spend the first official post of this page elaborating on just what my mission is for whoever out there happened on this.

Let's begin with me. I know, a bit narcissistic, but let's roll with the punches here.

I am currently an undergrad, pre-medical student with aspirations to become a pediatric emergency doctor or pediatric neurosurgeon. My major is in neuroscience and cognitive science. I'm a Catholic, and my patron saint is Saint Raphael the Archangel. Raphael happens to be the official patron of healing. So far, the pre-medical culture has completely caught me off guard, and I've started to realize that if I want to achieve my dreams, some serious changes have to be made. There's been a few ups so far, but A LOT of downs that I've had to trudge through. Yet, even though the odds say I shouldn't be a doctor, I still feel this undeniable calling towards healing others, and I intend to follow that calling with all of my worth until it either gets me there or takes me another direction.

Over the most recent winter break, I watched all three Hobbit movies, and the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy, in order. I've watched them all before, but not quite like that, and it was quite the experience. If you're a big fan, you'll realize there's a ton of symbolism and metaphorical messages throughout the entire series, especially with the concept of hobbits. They're small, ignorant, docile, and harmless. They're the least likely of any race on Middle Earth to undertake a battle or journey; they'd rather stay home. However, as fate would have it, one (Bilbo) or two (Frodo) underdogs from the Shire always tend to be the hero in these epic stories. What I always found the most amazing about these stories though, is just how much the hobbits have to go through. It's not just a fun little journey where they basically accidentally save the day. No, they seriously have to go through some hard and traumatizing times; times that seem never ending, with no light at the end of the tunnel. Yet at the end of the day, they prevailed, because there were small parts of their personality that contained the courage and tenacity required to mentally pull themselves through dark times.

So why did I bring up Tolkien?

Last semester, my grades were so abysmal that I had a day where I literally could not hold back tears for hours. I had no idea how I was going to bounce back from this. Grades are EVERYTHING for medical school, right? At least, that's what I thought. My other peers were pulling out As and Bs and here I was retaking a chemistry course because the previous grade would not have been considered by medical schools. What was tearing me apart was the fact that I still had that calling to be a doctor. This was my path, and I was going to stick to it for better, or for worse. So some time over winter break, I realized that I might as well be Frodo Baggins on the side of Mount Doom, passed out with no energy left in the game, even though the ring HAD to be thrown in the fire. This journey wasn't over yet. Not even close.

So I had this thought that maybe there's other pre-meds like me, who have this calling, and this love for healing other people, but are in a place where they feel like the odds are totally against them. Maybe they need a mental push to get into that Organic chemistry test with a little more confidence or a shove to remind them that studying medicine in our free time is totally better than Netflix! Because we love it just that much.

Thus, this blog is dedicated to mentally stimulating your love for medicine, and helping me boost mine. It will feature motivational posts about why we love what we do as pre-meds, as well as research articles to help you see if you like any particular field in medicine. I will also be posting information about stuff like the MCAT, medical schools you might want to have on your radar, residency programs that may help you pay off your medical school debt, volunteer stuff, etc. Basically constant reminders of why you're here, today, working your hardest at what you do. You may not enjoy molecular and cellular biology, but the end result is what you're looking for, and what your drive should be.

With that, let's get this journey started!