Perspective

I took two CLEP tests today and passed them both.  By the skin of my teeth, but I still passed them.  I took the hard one first and used every last minute they gave me to answer all of the questions.  I was so relieved when I saw my score and realized I had passed - just another miracle in the life of Courtney.  

I decided to take a short break before taking my next test, so I went to the waiting room and had a snack.  There was another girl sitting there and she asked me what tests I was taking.  Come to find out she was taking an 8 hour long test - a test to pass the boards to graduate from medical school!  She has applied for her residency in several states and I came super close to asking her if it was anything like Grey's Anatomy.   Seriously though, I always wonder if doctor, lawyer or police shows are realistic at all? 

Anyways, this encounter just made me think - I am so relieved to be wrapping up my Bachelors degree in the next six months.  I cannot even fathom the relief she must be feeling to be done with EIGHT years of medical school.  It's beyond my comprehension.


As I walked back to take my second test, I fell into the comparison trap.  "Wow,  she has come so far in her education - medical school!  I haven't even finished my Bachelors degree yet."  Why do we do this to ourselves? What makes us decide that everyone else's accomplishments should be the yardstick we use to meausre the value of our ambitions?  We are all wired so differently - to have different interests and unique specialties, but if we spend all of our time comparing our life and accomplishment to others - we will never fully embrace who WE are meant to be. (Plus who am I kidding? Medical school? Ha!)