I just graduated with my Bachelors of Science in Neuroscience and Women's & Gender Studies and moved to North Carolina to attend graduate school. Although I fear I will be living on ramen noodles and water, I am beyond excited to have the South rub off on me for the next few years. I would be lying if I didn't admit that I have goals and am hoping to accomplish at least some of them. However, I fo
und that these dreams are truly a fluid concept in my own mind. My instagram bio has changed to include "Aspiring OB-GYN, Aspiring Veterinarian, Aspiring OBGYN PA, Aspiring OBGYN NP, and back to Aspiring OB-GYN" over the course of the last four years. When one glances at it now, however, they might note that it simply says, "aspiring helper of people". It has been a long and windy journey to reach the place where I am today, and I am hardly finished in my evolution, but I have realized that no matter what I do, I simply want to help people -- specifically in the field of Women's Health. Whether I finish my Masters and pursue my PhD, or I attend medical school to become an OB-GYN as currently planned, I truly want to serve the underserved and educate and heal those that need help in my local community. I love to bake, create my own recipes, and whip up some secret ones that have been handed down to me by my grandmother who had an incredible talent in the kitchen. I have always loved baking them because the pie crusts are, in some ways, a form of sculpture and art to be molded and shaped. I also love to get outside -- backpacking, yoga, skiing, rock-climbing, kayaking, swimming, and running all keep me busy in my *cough cough* spare time. I believe that music is an incredible outlet for the soul. Although no longer pursuing a career in the music field, I am still a professional harpist and continue to perform benefit concerts for organizations such as the USO and Wounded Warrior Project as well as bringing music therapy to local schools, hospitals, and nursing homes. I also love to sew, crochet, read, dabble in photography, and lie in hammocks. I am a bit of a hopeful romantic -- hopeless in the sense that I am beyond hope of changing, but hopeful in the fact that I stand firm in my belief that people are good, that God can change hearts, motivations, desires, and actions, and that there is a plan that we do not and cannot understand. I am a romantic, but with time I have realized that this is not a weakness, but a strength. It does mean that I get hurt more than I would prefer, but it is just the lens through which I see the world....whether it is rosy through my glasses or not, I won't be the person to take them off.
