Slow It Down
What have I been up to in the last month or so? I’ve been spending some time primarily reconnecting with family. I say reconnecting because the household I grew up in for the last decade or so has stayed busy with everyone working, going to school, or doing both. It’s been a unique and strange time within the last couple of months as a dietetic intern as we were all abruptly pulled out of our rotations for our safety. Luckily, the Cal Poly cohort’s extremely fortunate to have such an awesome director in Kati who has been diligently working on providing opportunities for remote-hour completion through case studies and other pertinent simulated work. Incoming interns will soon realize how truly blessed we are to have her.
I’ll admit my thought process has been very clouded and somewhat erratic in the sense that, although I am at home, I haven’t been feeling productive and haven’t been able to focus much. It took time, but I have accepted that it’s okay not to feel okay which has helped ease my mental status and I am now, slowly but surely, dipping my foot back into the dietetic world. While I’ve been home, I’ve been spending my time starting a new book, spending time with my nieces reading and playing, cooking for my family, spending time with my geriatric chihuahua, and decompressing with other activities. My younger brother and I even attempted to set an at-home workout routine, an idea inspired by a patient I worked with in my previous clinical rotation.
The cohort received news that for now, ACEND would be allowing some of our hours to be completed through alternative practice experiences such as simulations, case studies, role plays, and other practice activities. This has brought some relief and reduced stress to us interns because this meant that we would still be able to chip away at supervised hours while doing so remotely. I’d say that this is somewhat bittersweet as I believe all of us were so excited to be that much closer to graduating on June 23, 2020! I hope that soon there could be an opportunity to step directly back into my clinical rotations which were my final rotations to be completed (aside from staff relief and the elective). I’d just finished up my first clinical rotation through the California Men’s Colony under the guidance of two veteran dietitians (P.S. For all incoming interns, volunteer for this rotation, it really is like no other!) and had been scheduled to start at French Hospital Medical Center the week when our dietetic internship had to adapt due to the global pandemic.
For now, I recently began my remote DaVita rotation from home, working on their provided online modules and case study work. I’m also prepping for my case study presentation for one of Cal Poly’s undergraduate MNT classes which will be done virtually over Zoom, just as our Monday didactic sessions have been taking place. Aside from just using video calls to attend class, the cohort’s been spending time checking in with each other from each of our homes, whether from LA, Carson City, SLO, or Santa Rosa.
Remember to be kind to yourself. Any type of progress is just that, progress. You may have to slow your pace down, but just remember to keep moving forward, one step at a time.
