Across the world, there are students who walk through their college campuses with specific dreams. Some of these students are there with English degrees, some with biology or chemistry. What all these students have in common, though, is that they are aspiring doctors, physical therapists, veterinarians, dentists, and so much more.
I am one of these students, so I know the difficulty of what we do every single day. It's honestly so crazy to look back and see what I've accomplished and what I've done as a result of my goal to get into veterinary school, to get that DVM degree and many of my pre-med friends feel the same way. It's almost like there's a pull that draws other pre-health students together to push each other to our goals, to keep us motivated and to keep us going even when we can't see the light at the end of the tunnel for ourselves. I can name at least three people who have reminded me of what I'm striving for at the end of my college career when and I know I have done the same thing for others, too.
To these students, the ones who like me go through some of the hardest classes offered in colleges, when times get tough I have one thing to say: you are not studying to simply pass an exam. You're not studying to just pass a lab practical. You are studying to save your patient. You're studying so that one day when a family walks in feeling hopeless, you can look at the file and know what to do. You're studying to make a difference for the life of your patients, whoever they may be or whatever they may be.
We are some of the select few that decided to dedicate our lives to something bigger, to helping other living beings when they are sick or hurting and that is something that makes us really incredible people. We are the next generation of dentists, doctors, and veterinarians that will enter the force and help better the lives of so many living beings, humans and other animals both.
It is hard. I know it, you know it, the people we complain to on a daily basis know it but honestly? Nothing that comes easy is worth having. One day we are going to walk across a stage accepting the diploma we've worked our butts off for, and we will know that all the work, all the blood, sweat, and tears that we shed to meet deadlines and be the very best we could be was worth it. One day we'll watch a patient go home healthy and happy because we helped them.
We've got this. We've totally got this. If that doesn't make you want to power on through the roughness that is biochemistry, I don't know what will (and come on, that class is pretty darn rough).
