Adapting

It has been a really long week for me. With my regular exam, multiple appointments, and a skills assessment I am feeling a little burnt out. I am still in my neurology unit which is extremely frustrating for me because I despise it. I want nothing more than to be in dental lab but instead I have class all day. Sometimes I feel stuck because I find it impossible to pay attention for 8 hours straight, yet I have to be here (attendance is mandatory). It also makes me feel really guilty that I can't bring myself to pay attention the entire time. The school administrators and the lecturers obviously expect our full attention but this is just not how I learn. In college, I almost never went to class. I would go to my elective courses, but as far as my science classes were concerned I was MIA. This may sound terrible to some people, but I really am a book learner. I don't do very well with someone essentially reading a powerpoint presentation to me. I would rather read about it and figure these things out for myself. I just feel that it enhances my understanding and I actually learn as opposed to memorizing facts and pathways. This works well for me and it's the system that I've used for years.

However, for anyone who has moved onto higher education, you may find that you can't do things the way that you were used to. For instance, I have significantly more material to cover and a lot less time to do it in. So as much as I hate sitting in lecture, people who are far more intelligent than I have determined that this is the system that will work best. So I have adapted. It's unrealistic to read entire book chapters, instead I just skim and then focus on reading the sections that are going to be most valuable. I don't write everything when I'm taking notes-just the main points that are going to be triggers for me. I have let go of the details even though I pride myself on being detail oriented in every other aspect of my life.

Dental school created something I wasn't expecting. It's made me a more relaxed person believe it or not. With at least one test every week, I can't worry or I would be stressed out nonstop. It's taught to be more positive because dwelling on your mistakes does nothing but slow you down. I have better learned to adapt. I still do things my way, but I know that I if what I am doing isn't working for me, I can easily change things if I need to.

Wishing everyone a happy Friday