One of the things I've wanted to do (now that it's a new year and I should be setting myself to being better than ever, right?) is log posts with more substance to them. I tend to use the blog as a place to just empty my mind when I'm particularly stressed but a blog should be more than just a sounding board - it should be a place to reflect and hopefully help or inspire others. I don't know that I've found my "blogging voice" yet all these years into having this thing, but I certainly hope someone out there enjoys reading whatever I haphazardly toss up from time to time.

Sometimes, over the years slogging through academic stuff, I'd think to myself, "Is this really worth it? Do I really want to be a vet? What if I don't? What if I just did this because I never wanted to do anything else and ohmygosh how many people would be so disappointed if I just threw in the towel?!" I don't know if this is normal or whatever, but I figured it was probably just one part of my brain trying to pysch out the other parts. But then I go to work over the summer, or do lab animal stuff, or sit in my new favoritest class ever (comparative med) and I feel like someone injected me with happy juice. Every single aspect of lab animal medicine is for me. It's like whoever made up jobs said, "Oh yes, and this one will be for [mynamehere]." It just resonates with me and I wonder how I can ever have doubted my place in this field. I am so, so excited to get to my lab animal rotations (I'm also terrified that I'll make a fool of myself, but that's probably that Negative Nancy section of my brain working again).

There, I've given myself a motivation pep talk. Now it's time to crank out this last external rotation letter and send it in. I can't believe that after all this time I'm sending in rotations applications. Won't be but the blink of an eye before I'm blogging how I can't believe it's time to apply to residency or it's time for graduation or it's time to start residency or time to start my first job...crazy.