all at once

The last day of my dietetic internship has arrived! It’s been about a year since I quit my job, embarked upon a very long journey of studying, clinical practice and lots of learning, and basically sold my soul to the student loan Gods (i.e., Uncle Sam).

When I started the internship, I had some doubts about whether I’d actually be ready to be an RD when all was said and done. I have this ongoing problem with doubting myself and my abilities, and sometimes my confidence isn’t the greatest. When the internship started last January, I remember wondering what if I screw things up? Or don’t “get it”? What the hell am I doing, quitting a decent-paying job and wracking up six figures of debt?? 

trading in business casual for all day everyday yoga pants was not so terrible

But you never know unless you try, and going into the internship I also knew (and loved) that there was no turning back – I was doing this thing. Soon I had so much work and studying to do there was no time for doubt and silly questions like those anyways. When I began my clinical rotations at the hospital, everything just clicked. I loved everything I did, from talking to patients, physicians, reading charts, labs, outlining nutrition care plans, researching information on various medical nutrition therapies and learning from my preceptors. And the notion that I could actually do all of those things for a living? Amazing.

Even better, I’m actually pretty confident that I’m good at this stuff. I’ve gotten great feedback and evaluations throughout the internship (yes, I am tooting my own horn), and feel good about practicing as an RD in a lot of different environments with various patients/conditions/disease states.

There’s something about the thing you’ve worked for and wanted to happen for so long (5+ years, to be exact) actually happening that is extremely intimidating, exciting and overwhelming. I’m really glad and proud to have made it through the internship, but am going to save the real excitement for when I find a job and can actually start working as an RD. Which will hopefully be sooner rather than later…

achilles update
Still no running going on in these parts, but I think the Achilles is slowly starting to heal. Some days will go by with very minimal pain, and some days it’ll be a bit more annoying. I think I’m doing everything I can to help it get better, it’s just the whole being patient thing I kind of suck at.

another free pair of shoes taunting me

I’ve been a cross training fool this week, which is definitely helping to keep me sane but still doesn’t have the same effect as running. Here’s a sampling of the new routine:

• Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 30 minutes elliptical, 45 minute spin class (three of the classes with Lindsay!), lifting, corework, stretching and PT
• Wednesday: 40 minutes elliptical, 35 minute spinning on my own, corework, stretching and PT

Yeah. I’m already pretty bored with it, although perhaps Lindsay and I should start some sort of injured runners spin club? I’ve been trying to do 60 – 80 minutes of activity thinking that’s what I’d be doing if I were running, but RUNNING IS JUST SO MUCH BETTER.

It’s funny how these two things – the injury and the internship ending – are happening at the same time. Both make me incredibly anxious and question the future, even if one future is only a race or two and the other a bit more serious/life depending. But with either, all I can do is keep working my ass off – towards recovery/healing by resting, doing PT and going to Dr. Levine and towards finding a job by applying and applying (and applying) and working with the connections I’ve managed to establish over the years. A little “hope for the best” can’t hurt either, yeah?

Question: How did you nab your current job? Any tips? Do you have any fun cross training routines/ideas for the injured?