If You Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail

     If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. That was a quote one of my mentors constantly repeated to me and her voice in my head has never left me!

     Luckily my school began to instill organizational habits within me back when I was in grade 5 by giving all students agendas. In fact, up until grade 7, we were required to get our agendas signed by our parents to acknowledge to our teachers that our parents were aware of our homework, and to our teachers that we were bringing it home. Though it was tedious and annoying for my mom, it no doubt imprinted a great habit with me.

Source:  http://jdorganizer.blogspot.ca/2008/03/file-folders-declare-that-you-are.html
This is a great habit to get into. If you're a student, whenever you receive a course syllabus/outline - put those dates and weights in right away! 

     One of the feelings I'm trying to avoid as much as possible, while still enjoying myself and working hard, is that of too much stress. Apparently in professional school, that's equated with wanting to have your cake and eat it too. But still, I'll only have this entire experience one time!

    Something I've realized is that one of my stress triggers is that of not knowing what's going on. I worry that I'll forget to submit something on its due date, or that there will be so many things going on at once that I won't have enough time to get everything done, leading to me losing sleep, which will lead me to my fear of setting myself up for those dreaded migraines.

     So, doesn't it make sense to plan ahead? Rather than becoming distracted in class, or driven into insomnia wasting time thinking about when exams are, when assignments are due, and how their timings factor in with all of your other classes and other things going on in your life, it makes more sense to have it in an organized form, laid out, containing dates, weightages, and any caveats that may be important to remember. So, I took 10 minutes and laid out what I'm expected to complete during the year.

     One of my classmates also stepped it up a notch to make it even more intuitive by creating a chart which organized assignment and exam dates from earliest to latest, as opposed to organizing it primarily based on the classes.

     The point I want to emphasize here is that by taking a moment to organize yourself, you have everything integrated for you. This will allow you to create a buffer for yourself if you know that you have busy times of the year, or days when you just won't be productive - hopefully this will be the extra motivation to get you working when you'd rather procrastinate.

New Beginning

Just as each new day yields new opportunity, taking a chance and new direction  will  do the same
Source:  http://chakrabodyyoga.blogspot.ca/2012/06/from-blah-to-brilliant-3-great-reasons.html

     I feel quite lucky because a few weeks ago, I've started my journey of the program I've wanted to begin since 2008. Can you guess what it is? Ok...I'll give you a few hints:

1. Its teachings are a vital component of the health care field

2. The three major areas of study are biomedical sciences, clinical sciences, and naturopathic therapeutics (huge clue there!)

3. Although this field is beginning to bloom, it is commonly practiced around the world - we're just starting to catch up.

4. We believe in the healing power of nature, and aim to cure our entire patient as opposed to only focusing on symptomatic treatment

     Okay, if you haven't guessed it yet, I'll give you the answer at the end :P

 So far I'm trying to saturate myself in the knowledge I'm gaining, especially after a summer of just working.

      My first experience was attending a summit with my class of ~85 students, where we got to bond and learn about what's upcoming, and were fortunate to hear some amazing speeches from several alumni of the program. Upon returning, the next week was a full week of class and the best word to describe that would have to have been - overwhelming! I currently have 11 courses this term (Anatomy, Asian Medicine, Biochemistry, Botanical Medicine, Clinic, Clinical Physiology, Ethics and Jurisprudence, Health Psychology, Homeopathy, Naturopathic History, Philosophy, and Principles, and Principles in Research), and am in class about 30 hours per week. Yet, in years prior, it was even more intense, so the lecture component is always a work in progress. In fact, over the next four years, I can expect to spend more than 3 000 hours in the classroom, and gain more than 1 200 hours of clinical experience. I should be very competent after that!

     Just as I had an urge to begin this blog, I've been getting an urge to start a YouTube channel (fanoflifend). I'm planning to vlog about more personal matters such as documenting some self-experimentations, documenting my hair progress, and personal experiences I encounter through my involvement in this program. I'm not sure what it will evolve into, but you never know what direction projects will take you in unless you open yourself to starting them. However, I still enjoy writing so I'm still planning to blog a few times each month!

     Alright, so the answer to the question above is...duh duh duh-duh (drum roll): I've started the Naturopathic Medicine program at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine. I'm very excited, and I hope to keep the excitement alive amongst the challenge I'm about to embark upon (which will hopefully make me a stronger person and ND in the near future).

If you gather interest in this program, a great first resource to check out would be my school's website, and then check out the Association of Accredited Naturopathic Medical Colleges.