baby out with the bathwater?
Is it a bad sign that on my 3-week summer vacation after my first 3 terms of my very 1st year of acupuncture school, I didn’t think about Chinese medicine for even a second? I didn’t needle, I didn’t moxa, I didn’t cup, I didn’t read exciting non-textbook info that I’d been whining there was no time to read during school. I never thought to myself, "Hey - acupuncture would help that!" like I normally would. I even cringed on last week’s all-family gathering when I realized I could help my nephew with some good ol’ fashioned acupressure. I didn’t want to. What’s that all about?! And I’m pretty sure it’s nowhere near being about good boundaries and knowing when to take a break or any of that good stuff. Instead I fear that I’m letting acupuncture school kill my love for and interest in this medicine. I’m the most extreme example of it I’ve seen, at least among my classmates. I don’t study, I skip as many classes as i can away with, I can’t make myself listen when I’m there even if it’s about something I’m really interested in, and (I pray this is just that it’s summer and it’s hot) I’m not even feeling the love when I’m at work at the WCA clinic! That was my stronghold before – how I knew that my school feelings meant nothing about my future.
The only reason I wonder if this means I should second guess my future career choice is this: I’ve got the sweetest set-up of any acupuncture student in the history of acupuncture students. I’ve got the whole world of Working Class Acupuncture as mentors, friends, ass-kicking motivators, and current and future employers. I’ve got a vision and, now thanks to CAN, an ever-growing community to turn to and to watch. If that’s not enough to keep a fire lit under my ass while making it through 3, count ‘em, 3 piddly years of school, I just don’t know what is.
I know, I know, it’s hoop-jumping and all my learning will really start later and blahblahblah, but I may have never been less graceful. I picture it like this: there’s a scary clown holding a hoop of fire that’s too small for my body to fit through, but I start running and leap through it anyway, landing on my back on the same side of the hoop I started from, fully on fire and yelling up at the clown, “Does that count as a pass? Can I be an acupuncturist now?”


Re: baby out with the bathwater?
If it makes you feel any better, I hated school also. I skipped as many times as I could and would often daydream through my classes. I often wished my school clinic patients wouldn't show up ,
I didn't want to deal with it. The day I received my passing score for the California boards, all the love came back. The hoops were over. I was free!
Re: baby out with the bathwater?
i will resist any future desire to blog while premenstrual, but all advice is still right. i will endeavor to sing sinatra, smack clowns (in plain view of approving classmates), stick with it and to stop resisting change, growth and progress. thanks for all needed smacks upside the head. and that whole not feeling the love at WCA thing? untrue. just a bad day ...
Re: baby out with the bathwater?
Only you can decide what's best for you. Think about what made you decide to go to OM school. Are those still true?
I second what Marty C. wrote. Unless there's something else you'd rather be doing now and in the future, stick w/ it and do the best work you can.
Re: baby out with the bathwater?
And I thought it was only I that resisted change, and progress, and growth.
Pay no attention to the inner distractions. Only time you should quit is when something better comes along - something exciting, that really floats your boat. Otherwise, you keep going, and you'll come out of the tunnel eventually.
It's only resistance. Let it go. :)
Marty C
Re: baby out with the bathwater?
gabe, if you are going to smack any clowns soon let me know, i want to watch.
Re: baby out with the bathwater?
Two recommendations:
1) Sing this lullaby from my working class childhood (courtesy of Frank Sinatra) -- under your breath, in the shower, whatever:
Would you like to swing on a star
Carry moonbeams home in a jar
And be better off than you are
Or would you rather be a fish?
A fish won't do anything, but swim in a brook
He can't write his name or read a book
And to fool the people is his only thought
And though he's slippery, he still gets caught
But my dear, if that's the life you wish,
You may grow up to be a fish
And all the monkeys aren't in the zoo
Every day you meet quite a few
[b]So you see it's all up to you
You can be better than you are
You could be swingin' on a star[/b]
Repeat as needed.
2) Put on some oven mitts, grab the flaming hoop from the clown, and smack him with it until he runs away. Set it on the ground and hop gently in and out of it. You may sing the hokey-pokey if you like. (Side note, courtesy of a bumper sticker: what if the hokey-pokey IS what's it's all about?)
Snap out of it, girl.