While strolling through the journey as a pre-med student in college, there’s always a turning point where doubt becomes hope almost like a “rite of passage.” It’s like suddenly you have a V8 moment and the little voice inside your head unleashes those four words that you left sitting in the corner, “You can do it.”
My “rite of passage” moment for me was on October 18th at the TAMU Health Science center when I got to tour the Gross Anatomy lab.
The day was already off to a great start. On top of that, Layne’s was catering, and we all know free food can automatically mark a great day as an even greater one!
After we ate, we got to listen to several students attending the medical school. I began to feel some sort of relief once they began discussing their journeys and the struggles they faced in undergrad. The little voice was starting to peak its head behind the wall in the corner ready to say those four words. Moments passed and we were about to enter the Gross Anatomy lab. Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect. I stepped into the room and I was completely astonished. I began learning about the arm and the fact that I was looking at a real human arm didn’t hit me until I saw the long fingernails and the white hair on the dorsal surface of the hand.
I made my way to the liver, which was way bigger than I thought and much heavier too. Then I migrated to the heart and I was pumped! Ya know since the heart pumps blood…anyways moving on. As the heart adhered to my hands, I began to ponder what the person was like, what their life was like, and what lead their heart to stop beating.
After holding different organs, not only did I feel like a doctor in Grey’s Anatomy, but I felt high-spirited and not because I was in a room of cadavers.
At last, I made my way to the brain in which was the moment I’ve been anxiously waiting for. I reached for the brain and as it lay in my hands, it was like the clock had stopped ticking. What was in my hands was not only a brain, it was a human brain. This brain gave someone his/her personality, it went through the obstacles in life, it produced someone’s thoughts, memories he or she held deeply, feelings that led to tears and happiness. I was not only holding a human brain, but I was holding someone’s experience of the world. That was the moment the curtains opened and it was time for the little voice in the corner to make its debut. It sung those four words that covered my body in chills. In this moment, I thought to myself, “I’m on the right track and one day I’ll get to where I want to be.”
You have moments that remind you why you started in the first place and what you want your outcome to be. With all the dead ends and turns you take in your journey, these moments are enough to serve as empowerment. As Meredith Grey once said: