You can do more than you think you can.

In high school no one hounded me to do my homework or to make good grades. In fact, I was often told that I was stupid. I knew that if I wanted to go to college it was going to be up to me to apply, pay for it, and do the work.
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I started out as a nursing major at the University of South Carolina, where I struggled to find my footing. High school had not prepared me for how to study in college or how to manage my time. By the end of my freshman year my grades were circling the drain, and I was throwing up daily from anxiety attacks.

After freshman year I quit. I moved to Atlanta and got a job in the Anesthesia Department at Emory University Hospital where I answered phones, made coffee, and occasionally babysat for a few of the doctors. It only took three months to figure out that I couldn’t live off $6.80 an hour, and that I needed to go back to school. I got a job nannying two elementary school kids, which let me balance my time between making money and going back to college at Georgia State University, where I majored in Biology.

When I started at Georgia State, I had to take an entrance test to determine what my skills were in math and English. I scored well in English, but I needed to take remedial math classes.

I spent the next several years working, studying, and trying not to give up. There were times that I could only afford to take two classes a semester, so that is what I did. I shared an apartment, drove a junker, and lived off of canned beans, store brand mac and cheese, and yogurt. Those difficult years taught me to be keep my head down and push forward. Eventually, I graduated, got married to my boyfriend, and got accepted to graduate school at Emory where I got a master’s degree in Medical Science in Anesthesiology, then a job as an anesthetist.

You can do more than you think you can.
You are smarter and stronger than you think you are.
Never, never, ever give up. Keep pushing forward at all costs.
If you want more information on becoming an anesthetist visit www.anethetist.org.

Current mood: Tenacious
What I’m listening to: Dartmouth by National Park Society