If this is the first article you’re reading, this is an update to my personal experience of taking a leave of absence from PT school. I wrote a midpoint update, which you can read here. This is my last installment to this series of posts.
It’s been roughly eight months since I took a break from school – four months since I gave you readers an update. GOOD NEWS: I talked to my school, and I officially registered for my summer courses! With that being said, I should tell you all that has happened since the new year began as it’s the reason why I’m able to return. These steps I took to prepare for my return to school.
1. I purchased a planner.
As you can recall in a previous post, I mentioned not really making efforts to study last semester. When 2020 began, that very well changed. I purchased and decorated my Christian Planner.
The planner has designated spaces to write down your annual goals, lay out your visions, set your intentions for the week, month, and so on. There’s a weekly graditude section. [Did you know? Studies show that practicing graditude can make you happier.] Lastly, there’s a weekly habit tracker included, which brings me to my next point.
2. I’m establishing good habits.
Practicing good habits and tracking them is part of maintaining my well-being. Here are some of the habits I’m working on:
- eating healthy
- exercise
- praying at least 1x/day and reading God’s Word
- reading a book as part of my nighttime routine
- sticking to a morning routine (will go into depth later in post)
- skincare routine
- taking vitamins
- STUDYING
When these habits are established, I don’t have to worry about breaking them when I am back in school.
3. I’m actually studying.
Oh studying, the hardest part for me was “Where do I start?” I’ve been out of PT school for almost as long I was in PT school. With the help of my counselor, we created realistic goals with incentives. She helped me figure out the duration of my studying.
Example: If I study for 15 minutes every weekday for 3 weeks, then I can purchase a book to read for fun.
I would ask my smart assistant, Alexa, to start the timer, and I would focus on PT stuff until time ran out. There were instances when time ran out, but I was still concentrated on a concept, so I would finish reading despite the “end” of the session.
After achieving the first goal easily, we upped the ante: I study for at least 30 minutes every weekday for 3 weeks. The reward? I can purchase clothes for my upcoming trip. I did my best to make up for the days I opted not to study, which sometimes led to studying on the weekends.
Nowadays, I look at the time I start studying and go until I need a break, which ends up being 1 hour. A PT student studies on average at least 10 hours a week [if not more and during the weekends]. I definitely have the capacity to reach those standards, but I do not want to mentally drain myself before I begin again. I still want to enjoy these last days not being in school.
With the study time established, what exactly am I during that time? Figuring out what to study is just as important. After my observation hours at an orthopedic PT clinic, I would read about patients’ diagnoses in the Scorebuilders’ NPTE Review book and refresh my memory on tests, measures, and therapeutic exercises correlated to the cases. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I no longer observe at the clinic, but I decided to go back to basics and review what I learned in my first year of PT school. For PT fundamentals, I look at my handwritten study guides I made. [I’m glad that I brought them back home with me and did not leave them in some box at my storage unit.]
A good student would just read the material again and again, but a better student will test themselves to see how much information they recalled. This is something I struggled with prior to my leave. I found difficulty in creating good questions to assess myself, and my peers were unavailable to quiz me as they were too busy learning everything. Also, as a slow learner, I felt like there wasn’t enough time to recognize and focus on concepts I still didn’t comprehend. Currently, I rely on the Proficiencies activities in the NPTE review book. I scan them into my iPad with the Notability app [because I’m too scared to write in it], and answer them. Some cases, I am impressed with how much I still remember. Other times, I still need to read up before review.
4. I went on vacation.
I considered the trip as my last hoopla before I hit the books again. I went to New York for two weeks. All you have to know is the trip was amazing!
I have to be honest. I took a break from these habits when I went to the East Coast. [If I’m taking a vacation, I’m taking a break from everything.] As soon as I came back from traveling [and to reality that is, “I’m going back to school soon.”], I resumed exercising and eating healthy.
5. I’m trying to establish a morning routine.
When I came back from New York, the coronavirus had infiltrated the US. My sleep schedule became out of whack. Since I came back from New York, I did not have a chance to resuem observations at the PT clinic.
Fortunately, this lockdown has made me realize the necessity of maintaining good habits and routines. Most of my habits are still in check. I am finding home workouts that I enjoy. I have my night time routine that has been well established since last semester. The thing I would like to have before I resume school is keeping a morning routine. WHY? It sets the tone for the day, which is a “productive.”
In the morning we are given a choice: to be active or passive. When I choose to grab my phone first thing in the morning, I will end up watching YouTube videos and continue to waste the remainder of my day.
My challenge with having a morning routine is the simple fact that I am NOT a morning person. I sleep late and wake up late. I currently don’t have a schedule, and sometimes I’m okay with that. As long as I start my day right, check off the tasks on my to-do list, and end the day with my nighttime routine, the time when I do these activities is almost irrelevant. Even though my day is not planned out by time, my current goal is to wake up earlier and complete my morning routine before 10 AM. The life of a PT student begins around 8 AM, which is the typical time a PT begins their work shift. The world runs when the sun’s out, so I making progress to adapt to how the world operates.
6. I established my “WHY.”
Everyone mentions having a “WHY.” It’s so cliche, but it keeps them in pursuit of their career. I was asked this question in the process of returning to school.
“Why do I want to pursue physical therapy?”
This goes beyond just making money to do other things like travel and creative work. It’s not as simple as “helping people” or “I want to help people walk again.”
I could say that I’m doing this for my family, but your “WHY” can only drive your life if you do it for yourself. When I started PT school, friends and family started asking me questions regarding their joint pain and gait pattern. Every PT student has had the same experience, but I realized that I am the only person out of my family and friends studying to become a physical therapist. My mom’s sister studied physical therapy, but never passed the license exam. Recently, I learned my other aunt living in New York is also a physical therapist, but isn’t currently practicing. I want to prove to myself that I am not a quitter and committed to fisnish what I started.
Even before I decided to be a PT, all my life, people would come to me and ask me questions. I was known as the smart student, and my classmates would ask me for help. As I have gotten older, I always did my best to be a resource: making connections with kinesiology majors; showing people the latest helpful video on how to study; I even have a page for PT resources. I was [and still am] a go-to person.
Why do I want to finish my degree? I want to be a resource to those who aren’t sure if they need to see a physical therapist. I want to be equipped with the knowledge of treating people with movement so they don’t have to rely on pain medication. When I die, I want to be known for making a positive impact in a person’s life. Since God placed physical therapy in my life, I haven’t been able to escape it. I guess being a physical therapist is one of the ways I can carry my legacy.
Well, those are my preparations for going back to grad school. It’s not usual for someone to leave PT and come back, so I’ll be happy if you read this post til the end and gleaned at least one tip to implement into your life.
This has been quite the journey. I’m fortunate that my school believes in me becoming successful this time around. It’s something I will never take for granted. As much as I enjoy creating various forms of content, finishing school is my top priority. I may not write posts on here as often [as if I post regularly, which I don’t], but I will keep this site running because I have many ideas for this blog.
As always, the best way to follow my journey #forthedpt is on Instagram.
Until next time,
Jordaine Enriquez, SPT