So much time so little to do!

I haven't felt this sense of accomplishment and emptiness since I finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Now that classes are pretty much over and graduation is right around the corner I have found myself with a very abnormal amount of free time. Typically as students we get breaks between semesters and even though it is nice to have time off, you know that another semester is looming. Well now that I don’t have another semester on the heels of an exhausting program I am at a loss for what to do with my free time.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to shadow in clinic with Dr. Mickey Shah and Dr. Steven Tijerina of Evidence CEU and it felt good to be in clinic. As they introduced me as a new grad I felt a mixture of complete happiness and total anxiety. In 3 months I will be taking my board exam and ideally will become a licensed physical therapist. However, in 3 short weeks I will officially have the title of Trace McClintock, Doctor of physical therapy. But what am I supposed to do for the next 3 weeks? There is of course studying for the board exams, though I know I am traveling between now and June 1 so is it really worth setting aside 4-5 hours a day and then not studying for 10 days? I have already established in my first week of down time that just relaxing and doing nothing isn’t really my thing. My roommates and I have played more video games in the last week than I have played in the last 3 years of PT school thanks to PubG.

While it is fun to kick back and relax and have a couple drinks with friends, I feel like I need to keep grinding. No day is guaranteed and I don’t want to waste any time. That being said, my girlfriend has already had to reminded me a couple of times that I have been grinding for 3 years and deserve a little time off without having to be stressed about my next group project or exam and need to take some time to myself. So in setting aside time for myself, I am sleeping in until 5:15am and have started a Facebook group called the “555” club where I am posting every day at 5:55am about motivation and setting personal goals. I just accepted that relaxation isn’t what keeps me going and in taking time off I get lackadaisical (case and point this blog post which I forgot to put on my list of things to do yesterday). I am not the kind of person that does well with too much free time because I just get bored so I have goals set up for until I leave for Ireland:

1. Plan things to do in Ireland because with a month before we travel, I probably should have already done this.
2. Start studying 1-2 hours/day for my board exam 4-5 days/week. I don’t think at this time I can fully commit to the full time job of studying for the boards; however I know I should not be putting it off until I get back from my vacation.
3. Make it to the gym 5-6days/week and get back up to 180lbs. Over clinicals I dropped back down to 167 because I am great at making excuses for not working out or eating right when I get stressed. That being said I have a tux ordered for a wedding in the near future that is going to be way big on me if I stay below 170.
4. Enjoy the last few weeks/months with my classmates. There is a good chance that I will be heading down to Texas in a few short months to start my career as a physical therapist and I know I would regret not fully enjoying the last few moments with my friends before the move. (Though you are all welcome to come visit in the winter when it is -20 here)
5. Win a round of PubG….I know I said I am bad at relaxing, but this game is super addicting and I know with all this free time I am going to need to get that winner winner chicken dinner.

Thanks for taking some time to read this quick little blog this week. As always feel free to reach out if you have any questions for me! I will have a lot of free time over the next few weeks so if you want to hangout or need help with something feel free to ask.

Happy Friday my friends—until next week!

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