Lost motivation has been found!

My last post was a little bit of a downer, so I thought I would lighten the mood. School is going pretty well right now. We just finished two weeks of midterms on Thursday. Although things were pretty jam packed it really helped me kick my butt in gear. I've been dragging my feet a lot this semester and have had a hard time finding motivation to get things done.

I started practicum this week. This semester is in stark contrast to my experience last winter. I currently have 3 patients that I am treating. While my teacher is there to offer us advice and to give some direction, treatment decisions and evaluation is pretty much up to me and my partner. The first two days I was with Tyler, a 3rd year student. We were getting used to each other and then he was done. So yesterday I worked with Pek. It has been interesting seeing different approaches to the same problem. I feel like there is so much that I need to learn and understand and so much that I'm supposed to already have learned. My teacher yesterday told us that what we really need to know about physical therapy we learn in the first year. That was a little daunting to me. We took such a huge credit load that it was hard just to stay above water and not drowned.

Working with actual patients is nice, almost a little weird really. I'm so used to my classmates trying to pretend to have a problem that when I found muscle weakness in my patient it threw me off. I had to do my test a couple times just to be sure I was doing it right. Although it has been a lot of extra work, with the time commitment, documentation, article summaries and questions to answer, I think it is a worthwhile endevor. I've learned so much in the last week and know that I have a lot of things to work on.

To add to my fun, they made a second Relief Society in my ward and I have been called as the secretary in the presidency. I've never really served in this capacity before, but I'm excited that I get to know the girls better and be involved on a deeper level. I'm trying to do what I can to magnify my calling, but I know that I can do better. I will only be in Idaho until the end of October, so my time will be short, but already I can feel the Lord's love for the girls in my ward. I've been on a spiritual high the past couple weeks and I want it to stay forever!