Happy weekend! And Happy almost (SO CLOSE) Thanksgiving! If you can’t tell, I’m a little bit excited for Thanksgiving. Just a little. My friends and I had Friendsgiving last night, and I made my Grandma’s butternut squash soup and cranberry relish recipes (found here).

The cooking process was interesting given I made to make a large quantity of soup, and my blender is a little single serve one. Also I hate chopping onions. My eyes go crazy. Apparently sunglasses help though, is what I learned! Everything came out really well, and it was such a fun evening with my friends (and kitty).

Despite a crazy week, I’ve been managing to cook some and eat well! A new recipe I tried and loved was Pumpkin Turmeric Soup with Quinoa and Brown Rice. It came out really well, and the seemingly fancy soup was ready in less than 10 minutes. That’s 100% my jam.

In terms of food, I’m still staying seasonal.

Eggnog yogurt+persimmon.

Double chocolate cranberry bread from the freezer (we won’t talk about how old this was; it was still good!)

Persimmon and cranberry chèvre salad.

I FINALLY cooked up the butternut squash I bought. I microwaved it (LOL) until it was soft enough to scoop out, then I sautéed it with some butter, garlic powder, onion powder, turmeric, salt and pepper.

Not seasonal, but definitely a highlight. After our final (for this block…one more block until Christmas!), some friends and I went out for beer (Saison). The place we went was right next to my favorite coffeeshop with amazing GF muffins, so I picked one up for dessert for that evening! YUM.

In terms of fitness, I finally got official confirmation that my ankle is not fractured (which I basically knew but I didn’t have access to the x-ray results yet). It still bothers me quite a bit but I think it’s finally getting better. I can walk a lot better. I tested it out by running a mile last week, and it was okay but not great. Good enough for a Turkey Trot, but then not running again for a bit. I literally have no idea what I could be, but for now I’m trying to be gentle with it. I finished another round of squat program, ending with 1 rep at 195#. It actually felt fine, so that’s good! I maxed out deadlifts at 225# which is nowhere near my actual max, but it’s fine. I also went to hot yoga the other night, and it was actually really nice. It was a cold evening, and I found a cooler spot in the room so I actually enjoyed it! I think I’m going to try to go to yoga more while my ankle fixes itself (hopefully).

On a similar note, I want to talk a little bit about getting in tune with yourself. This has been on my mind after a crazy couple of weeks. In vet school, I’m finding that my biggest study limitation is not lack of time or lack of motivation, but lack of mental capacity to study that long. Monday night, before the first part of our final, after 8-5 of lectures and studying for the test the next day, my brain just shut down. I had to recognize that trying to push through at that time was not going to help me, so I went to bed and woke up early to finish studying. Even then, I was still just so tired. After class on Tuesday, I knew the final the next day was something that I had prepared for a lot already, so I did some last minute studying and took the night off to rest up my brain. And it helped a lot. In vet school, in the field of veterinary medicine, and outside of it, any job that requires a lot of hours/studying/focus, you have to learn how to take care of yourself. You have to be in tune and recognize what you need to do to perform your best. For me, that was taking some time off on Tuesday. That being said, you also have to be prepared. Because I had studied plenty prior, I was able to do that. I knew that I would be pressed for time at the beginning of the week, so I tried to work ahead as much as possible. These things (vet school, etc) are HARD. But they’re manageable. And to get through, you absolutely have to recognize yourself. The same goes for attitude. I’m a pretty positive person, but I found myself getting a little stressed, and complaining more. A negative attitude can downward spiral really quickly.

Not only that, but ti definitely rubs off on other people. Suicide rates in the field of veterinary medicine are astonishingly high. I think it’s more important now than ever that we take care of ourselves and others, to give patients the best care possible. I’m not saying that someone who is depressed can just “decide” to have a positive attitude. But do what you can, look for the little things, remember why you’re here (there is no shortage of furry and adorable animals in vet school). It’s all about perspective. That’s why I love when what we’re learning has a direct clinical application; when I’m studying, I try to connect things as much as possible.

All that being said, I truly am enjoying vet school, but I wanted to put that little message out there because I know school is only going to get harder from here!