So about two years ago I decided it'd be a great idea to start over. With my career, not my gender or worse, my hair color (some people are adventurous about that, I am not one of them). So a year ago I started a graduate program in a completely new field, feeling like an absolute newbie at the age of 46. Especially since my classmates and I had a major league "1st Year Student" stamp on our foreheads. And when you're 20 years older than your classmates, that stamp? It oozes. It's a little heavenly and hellish, at the same time.But, guess what. We all navigated through a little bit of heaven and hell over the last year and just became "2nd Year" students, stamp location TBD (uh, on the lower trap maybe?). Three other 35+ classmates and I hung with the kids, who don't seem to mind that their parents and we four old girls watched original Cosby Show episodes. My classmates are brilliant (I think) and funny and impressive. I'm not sure how often they had second, or tenth, thoughts about things. I'm old, and I say the curriculum is grueling.
This first year was damn hard, and Pitt can be frigging frustrating, and some weeks completely sucked, but it's been worth it.
Honestly, who wouldn't want to spend 8 weeks picking apart cadavers? 16 weeks deciphering a mad doctor's clinical medicine hieroglyphics? Or managing 6-foot creepy Ken doll patients (who TALK, sweet Jesus!)? And listening to Biomechanic Gus's 8am "respect the deltoid" lectures? Or quietly freaking out about extrapyramidal lesion pathology or why cranial nerve signs opposite dorsal column signs are different from ipsilateral cranial nerve and dorsal column signs or how to diagnose an ischemic vs. a hemorrhagic stroke or determine if a spinal cord injury is complete or incomplete or understand the motor association cortices and the orbitofrontal cortex and cingulate cortex and dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex and the basal ganglia....(this'll take all night....) Basically everything, about neurobehavioral science freaked me out. Which is maybe why I've loved that class more than all the others. Even though the genius little professor is six years younger than me.
But best of all we began our fieldwork this spring term working with live, cranky, spunky, determined, gracious clients, for the first time. I was assigned to an adult day care center and though it's not the population I hope to work with, learned a lot from the wonderful staff and clients. Including how many dirty jokes are associated with Easter (approximately, 3) and an Italian song about fried fish. MUCH better, than Ken dolls controlled by evil doctoral candidates who probably have video-watching parties of 1st Year Students freaking out when Ken's vitals suddenly plummet because his butt is too rock-solid to handle. Bodacious.
So what's my point? That setting yourself up for extreme uncertainty and potential failure and financial risk is good? Well sometimes, it is. It's never too late to start, or to start over, as long as you're serving your soul. And you know when you are. As much as I hate some of the Pitt process and disagree with academia's tendency to stomp on what's logical and right, that soul thing? It's still there. Which makes this short-term "holy sh*t...I've sacrificed high income and family life and social life for.....?" panic worth it.
So pay attention mates. Your orbitofrontal cortex may be trying to tell you something. And that, you don't want to mess with. I know. I'm a 2nd Year Student. (smile)
