My Pivot Year🎯

Cover Image💯

Every medical student has that one year that really tests whether you actually chose the right career path, the real test.

For me, 300 Level will remain the year that flipped everything I knew about med school especially my course of choice – MLS upside down and pieced it together differently. The year I call my pivot year

Actually, it’s also the reason I am back here on Jojo Talks Med after quite a long pause. I’ve been thinking about my comeback and I wanted it to be honest, real, and substantial and nothing works better than defining the year that taught me how to bend without breaking.

How do I begin my description of the year?

JoJo at Histopathology Lab🔬

I’ll start by saying I was truly excited, anxious but excited. Seniors said this is the year real medicine begins and I was too ecstatic to finally enter the system.

I started to get ready as usual during the holiday but let’s be real, nothing prepares you for the first class of chemical pathology where you’re lost about a lot of terms like Basic Acid Output, pentagastrin, gastroscopy, a stark change from the muscles of the upper arm and supply to the heart which you thought was the worst you could ever come across in medical school and worse, your friends are nodding along with the lecturer! If I talk about Pharmacology, I could cry.

300 level felt like stepping into the actual room where your chosen course lies and realizing the temperature isn’t exactly optimal for your wellbeing.

Starting from the new and improved workload, Lectures, Posting, Assignments, Presentations, Incourse, Incourse, Exam, Incourse, Incourse, Lab, lab, lab, LAB, It was a struggle! (Yeah you know the trend that inspired that 😉).

Some lectures had Jojo second guessing her intelligence, some courses had me regretting my choices - I repeat Pharmacology, oh and sprinkle in some Biostatistics.

Presentations were an inescapable chore and long monotonous hours in the lab some sort of punishment.

In a nutshell, everything became more intense and the expectations? - Sky high.

A lot of times, I questioned my abilities, wondered if I could actually keep up, a lot of times I really fell behind, with all the pressure, my excitement died down. Am I really cut out for this?

My diverse activity gallery🤩

With all these struggles, you might be thinking I was very serious, oh my opponent, you have been deceived, and Jojo was more divided this past year than she has ever been as a student.

I was so playful, I watched football in the evenings especially MFL like they paid me, played in two different demanding school competitions (I do have medals to show for it though) and definitely had one to many games night. I volunteered heavily, explored founding, designed interfaces, took on crazy administrative roles, had an internship, took an online course, read novels not pertaining to my education, mentored my immediate juniors, participated in health tech competitions, went for outreaches and my personal favorite, scrolled instagram a whole lot.

Yes, scandalous I know but you see Balance isn’t just necessary, it’s Survival. Med school has a way of consuming you if you let it, but I learned that rest, laughter, passions and living in the moment aren’t luxuries but lifelines. Consistency not perfection is what carried me.

Something really confusing at the time😭

300 level holds a lot of unforgettable moments both good and bad.Unfortunate times like when I had 10/30 in my Biochemistry Incourse😭. It hit me so hard! I had studied! It felt like my effort was invisible, when I nearly missed an exam because I’m female and have a low pain tolerance or when my experimentation was very half baked.

There were bright spots too like when I first got a reaction right in chemical pathology lab, when the slides under the microscope wasn’t just smears or organisms but clinical applications and patient stories. When I aced an exam after the struggles, when I won medals for football and track, when I got positive comments from my superiors, those study nights with close friends that turned into core memories.

Why do I call it my pivot year with all the factors in play?

One of those unforgettable moments this pivot year❤️

You see, 300L came with situations I had to experience to pick out lessons I had to learn, like how Resilience grows in Discomfort.

The long days, nights and workload are just a preamble to how much health workers actually go through in hospitals and labs and exposure to that in the lab taught me that strength is built when you keep showing up even in exhaustion.

The more challenges I faced, the more I really critiqued my why’’ in medicine and I understood. For me, it wasn’t about just the title any more but about becoming someone who contributes to humanity meaningfully and that understanding kept me going.

I must also say, even in the hardest of weeks, there were these sparks of clarity. Those long hours in the lab held where theory finally met reality, I was so awed in a lot of my postings, I still am with newer explorations in my IT program.

I started to actually see myself not just as a medical student but a health care professional in the making. Medicine really did begin anew for me albeit slowly.

I pivoted from chasing great grades alone to actually building a model of the kind of medical professional I want to be.

I pivoted from thinking I couldn’t take on a little more things I was interested in and still excel, because I did, my first semester grades? – LIT!🔥

I pivoted from just studying medicine to becoming part of it, every time I showed up, every time I performed an experiment, every time I chose to grow in knowledge.

I pivoted from wanting to fit in to medicine as it is to wanting to stand out in it, my scope has really stretched far🥺.

For me, 300L was the year I grew into myself because it didn’t just test me, it reshaped how I see medicine, myself and the journey I am on.

I now believe a pivot year is not meant to break us but redirect us and that is why I am picking up writing again to build this blog to not just be a space for facts but a community where the real, raw and rewarding parts of medicine is shared.

So I am back, not just to write about medical concepts, though I will but to also talk about realities, growth, reflections and journeys that shape the medical journey.

That’s exactly what I want JOJO TALKS MED to capture. I want this space to feel like a conversation and validation for a fellow traveler on the same path.

So here is to new beginnings, new stats, honest reflections and shared stories. If you’ve had your own pivot year, I’d love to hear about it in the comments because medicine may be personal but it’s never a journey we take alone🫂.

Welcome to Jojo Talks Med, I have missed this space and I’m glad you’re here with me. Now off to fill my log-book, sparkle!💖