A color of approaching success
At some point in our schooling ‘career’, we all go through it. There’s no set point as to when it happens, but it will happen to each of us. We venture through the doors of Life University, full of excitement and anticipation. We look forward to helping people and being part of true healthcare. We don’t care that we’re at the bottom of the totem pole because we’re here, and that’s all that matters. At some point, something changes. Suddenly, we see all the blue jackets around us and it hits us…Blue Jacket Envy!
It usually starts to really affect us when we first step into cadaver labs. We suddenly think, “This better all be worth it!!” Then we remember the covetous blue jacket! We see new interns in the bookstore trying on jackets, smiling and snapping pictures to adorn their Facebook pages and to email to family and friends. We walk past them in the hallway and feel a sense of jealousy. All we want is to legally put our hands on patients and adjust them. We want to give them what we feel will be the perfect adjustment, to free them from their ailments, clear the fog from their brain and even have angels singing our praises. We’re sure that when WE get to put on that blue jacket, we will have officially arrived and heaven will be silent for a moment and watch as we step into student clinic for the first time. For that brief minute, we lose sight of the anatomy, physiology, full spine, mo-pal, pathology, skel radd and the dreaded CLET exam which stand in the way of us and our clinic experience. All we see is that blue jacket.
We are suddenly snapped back to reality as the professor hands us a scalpel and tells us it’s our turn to cut into the 82 year-old female cadaver in front of us. How in the world did we end up in a cold room full of bodies??
The blue jacket is horrible, but it’s a symbol that we have finally arrived. We are finally going to be doing what we are here to do. We are finally going to adjust our patients, feel the feeling of their cervical spine between our fingertips, the feel of their ligaments as they spring back into tension as we motion the body and to watch in amazement as our patients go from headache to smiles in a matter of minutes after our adjustment. This uncomfortable, stiff, polyester jacket brings us one step closer to outpatient clinic and eventually a practice of our own. We don’t realize the responsibility that comes with the blue jacket, however. We may not fully realize that we will literally be holding someone’s life and wellbeing in our hands. We don’t realize the countless hours that will be spent in clinic, waiting, finishing paperwork and waiting some more for a doctor to sign off on our work. But, we assure ourselves that all the waiting will be worthwhile because…we will be doing it in our blue jacket!!
This process of Blue Jacket Envy is important in the journey! It keeps us focused on the task ahead and keeps us pushing forward. Be warned…there will inevitably be a time while you are at Life when you want to quit, when you feel the stress and pressure and feel you are going to crumble underneath the weight. But seeing a new round of students buying their blue jackets brings us back to reality and keeps pushing us forward. The blue jacket is a symbol for all those around us and we must keep pushing on. It’s one of the big accomplishments that will be felt by each and every one of us and one that sets us apart from those around us or those who are coming up behind us. Blue Jacket Envy! It’s worth it!
