How to Survive a Rough Patch

Weekly Report 24

This week was somewhat of a difficult week regarding ISM. Although I now have mentor, I have yet to meet him from the first interview. This has thus slowed down my final product and after discussing with my teacher, I had to ultimately downsize the project. Instead of implementing a program, I would create a program that may or may not be implemented. I knew from the beginning taking on a big project would be a risk, but I still want dot attempt it but I realized it is better to spend more time learning in depth than struggling in the end to complete it.

I am partially surprised that I agreed to this myself. Usually even when it seem impossible to complete, I push myself even harder to be the best. But I think there were a number of reasons that stopped me this time. Overworking myself, would also mean overworking my mentor and that was something I did not want, nor could I do. Next, I already have a lot on my plate. Balancing school, SAT, volunteering, among many other activities is a struggle. So I need to prioritize. Not that ISM is not a priority but should I pressure myself to finish a final project that would require double the time when I could still learn a lot from a simpler one? No. Finally, I don’t feel like I am missing out in a lot of knowledge. By creating a plan, I still learn about the patient's general care and other aspects that would pertain to a career. I just may not get the glory of seeing it actually come to life. And I am ok with that. I signed up for this class to learn, not to show off and try to one-up everyone else. And that objective was and is being achieved.

Now I probably am always going to wonder what if even after final presentation night is over. Given the opportunity, I do hope the plan ends up actually being implemented in numerous hospitals because it can provide positive results. But even if does not I am grateful for the opportunities present and that I was even able to contribute that much erach and information to the medical industry. I am excited to see how the rest of the project turns out, as currently research is slow. But by taking to my mentor, I am getting further and can't wait to see the end result.