როგორ გამაძლიერა ბრძოლამ / How My Struggle Made Me Stronger
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| ადანნა ჯოის ემენიქეონუ / Adanna Joyce Emenikeonu |
როგორ გამაძლიერა ბრძოლამ
How My Struggle Made Me Stronger
Who am I – I am Adanna, a Nigerian Medical Student aspiring to be a better version of myself and I am proud of finishing 5 years of Medical School.
Things that make me unique - are my personality and my experiences.
My hobby- Reading African books, hanging out with my friends, and watching YouTube.
Three things I love to do- Cooking for my friends, Praying and taking long walks.
What makes me happy-Food and have Peace of mind.
Main life goal/dream- To be able to maximize my superpowers.
BACKSTORY
I have always known I wanted to study medicine, something I’ve been saying for as long as I remember. No spectacular reason for it, but one of the factors that strengthened my decision was a family member’s health experience. After high school, I was not fortunate to get into medical school immediately due to some educational policies. I almost gave up on the career, because I didn’t see why I would pursue one field for so long. Someone told me about Medicine in Georgia, and she was a student of TMA too. I made the decision to apply to TMA also. I finally got in, after a tedious process. I was so excited when I finally made it, like finally- I get to do this course.
My first semester of medical school started in March 2018 and I was very excited, for me, things were very different. Coming from a university where there could be hundreds of students in a class overflowing, to a place where the teachers knew everyone’s name. It was impressive. Having teachers give me the opportunity to ask questions, just to make sure I understand.
THE CHALLENGE
Biochemistry seemed like a thorn in my flesh. I just never understood the course. The thought of Biochemistry screamed fear, difficulty, and lack of understanding. I can remember my first day, it was very difficult. I just did not understand what they were talking about. Amino acids, collagens, etc. Compared to Anatomy, which was quite visual, Biochemistry was so hard to visualize, where are all these molecules they are talking about?
I talked to my friend who was studying Biochemistry, and she told me I'll get to understand it with time. I read textbooks and watched videos, and still could not understand anything. Biochemistry was hard.
For the first quiz, I tried to prepare very adequately, even using the big biochemistry book, Devlin, to study. I felt ready like I was finally going to get it right this time.
My first quiz result was out and I remember getting 4/10. I was so scared for myself, honestly. It was so hard to understand.
For every other quiz, I remember studying very hard too but saw no improvement at all. I barely had any sleep on the day of the biochemistry quiz.
Midterms came, and it was bad, I barely made the pass mark for midterms after all the preparation.
After the midterms, I made sure to try every trick I knew to improve my understanding of biochemistry all to no avail. At a time, I noticed someone in my class who seemed to understand biochemistry to an extent, Pragya. I approached her and talked to her about my problems, and how I barely understood anything. She really did help, made me understand the big picture first, and it became a bit clearer. It still was difficult for me. To be honest, I barely passed biochemistry that semester. It was really tough.
Biochemistry 2 came along, and I was privileged to have an excellent teacher, who tried to break down points and made studying more fun. Maka- did her best to make sure my classmates and I understood biochemistry better.
HOW IT GOT BETTER
After my pre-clinical, for some reason, I had to revisit biochemistry again, to study it. And boy it made so much sense, I was able to understand better now, after having done so many courses, I could understand WHYS to some things. I know biochemistry is very technical and has so many names to be memorized and to be honest, I still forget some things. But I can say that I understand the bigger picture now, and even find it interesting sometimes.
I'm putting this out there because I know so many people struggle with Biochemistry in their first year. This is due to so many reasons. For me, it was my first exposure to the world of medicine, and there was still so much I needed to learn to understand basic concepts. Another reason for me was that unlike other courses this one was not visualized.
I know some people might be going through something similar as well, and I want to let you know you are not alone. It might make you feel like a failure, but know that it doesn't define you, and cannot stop you from achieving your dreams of becoming a doctor. It's really just a course, and trust me, not every single thing will be needed at the end of the day.
MY ADVICE
What I'd tell my first-year self would be to relax, and not put so much pressure on myself, as long as I give it my best, things will fall in place with time. Just keep being consistent, keep reading, and don't get frustrated. Ask your peers for help. Celebrate your small wins, and focus on your other strengths. This challenge might be another course for someone else, I guess the same principle applies.
One thing I have learned over time is that the knowledge I acquire cannot be taken away from me, and my grades should not define me. Prayer was a great helping factor for me.
I have friends that went through this struggle. Do not compare yourself to anyone. On this journey of medicine, we're all on different paths, and we should never compare ourselves.
Overall, I’ll say this experience taught me not to stress over things a lot, and that things will fall in place at the right time
Every word you said about the struggle with subjects was so relatable, there were certain subjects, including neuro-anatomy, which made me feel like quitting but having classmates like you really helped in leaping through those low times. Thanks a lot for sharing the insight info. <3 <3
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