THE YEAR OF THE 25: The Brotherly Love Edition: 1 year and counting

Its crazy to me that I've been in Philadelphia one year. I moved to this new place on June 1st 2012.

A year later. Where am I.

Thinking back to when I made my match list. What was it all about.. It was definitely a risk. I can't say it was a deep love of philly or a warmth about penn. Definitely not. It was the idea of taking a risk.

Well the risk has been taken and the question is.. Was it worth it? Maybe it's too early to tell. And what have I learned so far...

I have definitely learned being happy is something that doesn't always just happen. Sometimes it involves conscious decisions, saying no or saying yes, sometimes it starts from the simplest place... rest.

I remember I had all of these dreams and visions for my first year in philly. I just knew I would be the black carrie bradshaw of philly. Amazing at work by day, looking for love in a fabulous outfit by the evening and in my fabulous philly apt by night. The journey has been tough but somehow my own story and episode has evolved and isn't half bad.

The story involves a lot of hard nights and days in the hospital, tough lessons about human nature and at times pessimism about the future direction of medicine, there have also been tears this year, tears from fatigue, a few bumps and bruises of dating and missteps along the way.... but somehow in the midst of the haze has appeared a stronger woman, more resilient, a little more at peace about her new surroundings, a little more fearless at work, a little wiser about dating, a lot less focused on finding love and a bunch more focused on maintaining happiness.

This past week I worked night float. Somehow this week brought all of the challenges of the year into focus. The challenge to rest, feed yourself, take care of patients, work with colleagues, study, maintain. At the end of a tough week I was able to have one of the best Sunday's I've had in a while. Saturday night I went to sleep at 6pm.. and slept until Sunday morning. I woke up refreshed. Went for a run, went to church!!, stumbled onto art in rittehnouse (the best free museum you could ask for), took a bus to west philly for a second which is oddly very quiet compared to the city.., came back in time to see tons of beautiful black people at the Odunde festival, and ended the day enjoying the cool night philly air with my roomie.

Looking forward to what the next year in philly will bring. Hoping for less bumps and bruises, more growth and adventure, more laughter shared with friends and more time spent doing things that bring me joy.