I have been a busy little bee these past two weeks. It all began with part II boards the weekend before last. After taking all of the exams that I have up until this point, I have found that no amount of preparation helps me to feel better about taking the test itself. While I am sure everything went ok, I won’t know for a month, and that in itself is nerve-racking. With that done, parts III and IV are coming up fast, but I chose not to spend too much time studying this past week. I will be back at it again, though, in a day or two. Our clinicians have shifted some of our assignments to be more focused on material that we need to know for boards, so that has been helpful.

It is easy to get mentally overwhelmed; given all that is going on in current events, people need outlets to improve their psychological health. I find myself wondering what kind of atmosphere I will be walking into when I begin to see patients again, so finding ways to help that can fit into the new norm of social distancing has become imperative. Spending time outdoors in the garden is the one thing that has helped me the most over the last few weeks. Since National prides itself on evidence-based care, I was curious to see what current research has to say about gardening and health outcomes.

It's the start of my very last term at National University. When August rolls around, I will have completed my third and final degree. Everything is falling into place. Epidemic and all, I have started to set up one of the spaces that I will be practicing in. A notification came earlier this month, letting us know that all of the board exams that had been postponed in the spring are rescheduled. They will all be stacked up on top of each other this summer. I can plan on being stressed out with preparations from now until mid-July and will involve traveling to Davenport, Iowa, twice between now and then.

This is my last post before beginning my last trimester of school. But some days, having the ability of executive function is a struggle. To remain motivated, I have been putting a lot of time into learning something new every day beyond school requirements. There are so many free resources available to do this! Right now, my focus is on improving my Spanish, which I’m achieving with the Babble app, as well as watching Spanish television shows. While I don't think that the language used in Diablero is really appropriate for conversations with patients, it is improving my ability to listen and comprehend.

The world is a very strange place right now. I wish I could tell all of you lovely readers how stellar things are going, but they are not. You know what? That is perfectly ok. Feeling abnormal is a normal response to a situation as abnormal as the one that we are in now. School has always given me something to focus on outside of myself. Now that the only option is to slow down and focus inward on the life I have before me, I am experiencing some growing pains.

Well, here you have it, one of what I am sure are many accounts of what people are experiencing while sheltering at home during a COVID-19 outbreak. The clinic closed its doors midway through last week, and all classes have been moved into an online format.

Somewhere in the past few weeks, the half-way point in my chiropractic clinical internship experience came and went. The weather is becoming warm again, and by the end of summer, I will be able to call myself Dr. Sarah.

With all the craziness of taking three board exams during my next and final term at National, this may have been my last tri-mixer. I know I have written about Tri-Mixer before. It’s an event designed to bring about camaraderie among all of the different classes and programs. This term, a group of students all met up at Downers Sand Club for games, snacks, and camaraderie. I brought the kiddos with me that night, and it warmed my heart to see them be included in the fun with all of the "big kids."

Food is a huge part of any culture; it brings people together and holds special meaning. This is why one of the biggest challenges in getting patients to eat under a new set of rules is to find ways for them to do so while still being in line with their culture. Now, it is a lot easier to do so in this day and age, where it has become very trendy to make foods that are labeled as "gluten-free" or "paleo." People can now have things that fit their diets even when time commitments and lack of cooking talents could have stopped them. However, some of these food items might be cost-prohibitive to certain families, and this is where a little research can go a long way.

Well, that sure was a long break, I feel like it has been ages since I wrote. I use the word "break" lightly as I was in clinic for the duration of the time between the end of last trimester and now. Graduation was awesome, I can even explain how good it felt to complete some part of all that I have been working toward, and I can only guess at how I will feel when this is all finished later this year!