eleven

#11: develop a plan B

I guess I should start by explaining what plan A has been:

To go to a reputable medical school and become a forensic pathologist.

Needless to say, my plan a has not come to fruition, nor will it. So, in essence, my plan B has become my plan A. How it came to be could only be described as serendipitous.

Impasse.

Pronunciation:/amˈpɑːs, ˈampɑːs/

noun

• a situation in which no progress is possible
  
  
  see also: where I found myself in the Fall of 2009.
  
  
  I was sitting in the conference room of our ambulatory surgery center at work, feeling completely and utterly lost. Have you ever had those moments where you take a second and say, "wow, this really isn't where I thought my life would be by this point"? Well, on this particular day I found myself not only saying that but adding "and this is not at all where I want to be". I had graduated from college nearly three years prior to that, and aside from taking my MCATs, I was no closer to my med school dreams than I had been then. It's the same old story. You get comfortable in routine and the days start to run together, and before you know it you're older, jaded, and you feel trapped in this stalemate position. I somehow knew in that moment that I needed to act now or forever hold my peace. But I had become so disheartened that I had no clue in which direction I should act . Plan A had always been med school. Plan B had always been teaching; preferably high school biology. I felt like my grades, test scores, experience, etc. weren't enough to get me into a good medical school, but I didn't know if I should keep on trying or if I should move on to my back-up. I needed guidance. And I got it.
  
  
  Almost instantaneously I received an email from Temple University School of Podiatric Medicine. Apparently, my email had been sent to them as a result of my taking the MCAT a few months prior. I had never really given Podiatry the time of day, but I decided to read on and see what they had to offer. It turns out that they were holding a winter internship program and the urged me to apply for it as an opportunity to check out their school and their program and see if it appealed to me. I decided to go out of my well-defined comfort zone for a change and apply for the internship.
  
  
  When I mentioned my plan to apply for the internship to the doctor I work for, he informed me that he had a good friend who is a Podiatrist; apparently making a good living, doing lots of surgery, and loving what he does. Good sign, I thought. So, I was actually quite excited when I received my acceptance email for the internship program.
  
  
  What happened when I got there is hard to explain. There are very few times in life, or at least in mine, when something just feels so right all the way in the core of your soul that you cannot adequately put the feeling into words. I felt that, standing in Philadelphia at Temple University, knowing this place, this path, all of this, is where I belong.
  
  
  I applied to the school immediately following the internship program and received my acceptance letter soon after. I leave for Philadelphia next week.
  
  
  In actuality, my plan B isn't even what became my plan A. Really, it wasn't a plan at all. With that being said, I move to change this list item to "keep an open mind - life falls into place where you least expect it".