It was all worth it

There were numerous days of PT school that I didn't know if I was going to make it. That might sound slightly dramatic but I actually mean it. If you don't believe me then you can either talk to any of my immediate family or talk to my roommate. All of those guys (plus numerous others) seriously deserve a gold medal for all of the support, love, and encouragement they gave me through the rough last two and a half years.
There was the first semester that I didn't know if I could pass our Kinesiology&Pathomechanics class, then there was the second semester I didn't know if I would make it through Neuro Anatomy, then the next fall I didn't know if I could stay in school with all of my health issues, and that following spring I didn't know if I could finish because I was just so tired of school. But guess what? Here I am- I made it! I graduated! I'm completely done with my DPT degree. CRAZY! God is so good. It is seriously nothing less than a miracle that I've made it here.
I think my parents got sick of all the texts and calls where I would say that I was quitting PT school. There were lots of ideas I threw out when I talked about quitting. One of them was going and working in a third world country at an orphanage because I felt so selfish devoting all of my time to schoolwork and not doing anything else for others. Another was just quitting and being a "full-time friend". My friends always gave me a hard time about the "full-time friend" idea because it obviously sounded completely ridiculous but I just really love being a friend. I love writing letters, I love celebrating birthdays and other special occassions, and all-in-all I just love being a friend. So the best thing about both of those ideas is that both of them are going to happen now and I didn't even have to drop out of grad school to make them happen!
 The first is happening because I'm traveling to Kenya in February to volunteer as a PT for a month, both treating patients and also educating the Kenyan PT's on better treatment techniques. The second gets to happen everyday in my future profession. In the outpatient orthopedic setting I get to be "friends" with all of my patients as I work with them several times a week for multiple weeks.
It was kind of ironic because in the same period of time that I received my randomly assigned license plate of "BFF" (which makes me think of the middle school saying "Best Friends Forever") was the time when my clinical instructor told me "Our job is all about relationships. You really have to be friends with all your patients." The whole time he was saying that I was thinking "Is this real life? I get to be friends with all these people and get paid for it?!? That's a dream come true!" Okay, I know when it comes down to it working everyday as a PT won't be perfect but I still feel very blessed to be in a career that I get to combine my love for people and my passions for anatomy and exercise.
The crazy thing is that I've made it through school and I never thought I'd say this but it was ALL worth it. I have said it at least a 100 times since starting clinicals and hopefully I'll be saying it until the day I die. It was all definitely worth it.
All of the nights of cramming, all of the stress and anxiety,and all of the complaining and venting. Although all of those things weren't probably necessary all of the time but they happened. There were a lot of sacrifices I had to make through grad school. Lots of things I wanted to do and lots of people that I loved had to be put on the backburner in order to get the grades I needed in grad school. But if that's the cost I had to pay to be where I'm at now then it was worth it. Every test, every lab practical, every single part of grad school that I hated at the time, it was worth it.
I love PT.I love what I get to do on a daily basis.I know that I've only gotten to experience 7 months in the "real world" but after that short time in the clinic I am so excited for the career I have ahead of me. And I am fully aware that just like school, I will have both good and bad days at work, but overall I know that it will be great because I get to help people everyday for the rest of my life.
I am blessed to be where I am now and I can confidently say "It was ALL worth it."