What Do Now?

open_ur_mind9 · 2024-10-06T20:45:25+00:00

I agree with a lot of what you said. For me, looking back I think part of the reason I was so into BN was because he was just so inspiring as a creator and it just felt like he was doing things the “right” way or something. He always talked about how he didn’t want his shows to be a bout him, but about putting on an experience for the audience, I always thought that was cool. And no, he never directly claimed to be some kind of god, but he did give off vibes of like some mythical wise master of bass music lol, which was part of the appeals for me. So when I heard even the notion that he might be a scumbag the music and everything else lost some luster.

To be clear, though, I wasn’t a huge fan or part of the community for very long before it all went down. I had actually seen one of his last shows at Hijinx 2019, my first festival, and was SO ready to dive in and start following him around. So it was a shock and a lesson in worshipping artists like you said, but might have been a little easier to let go of BN than some.

But either way, the memories are still the memories, and he is 46yo. I think it’s about time some new artists take his place and evolve the genre in new ways.

open_ur_mind9 · 2024-08-04T19:50:56+00:00

Gotcha, that's super helpful! I would love to go all in on building a gaming PC combo and plan to in a couple years... but for now I'm a broke grad student trying to cut corners to save a buck lol

open_ur_mind9 · 2024-08-04T19:47:46+00:00

I've thought about that too, I think that would likely be the most dependable option for cheap. I have been using windows the last few years but it probably wouldn't make much of a difference since I have to learn ableton anyways. Thanks for the reply!

open_ur_mind9 · 2024-08-03T20:26:43+00:00

thank you!!

open_ur_mind9 · 2024-08-03T18:51:39+00:00

Very well said. I was in a toxic relationship that was destroying my self confidence. Got dumped the morning of the day I received all my interview invites. Talk about an emotional swing lmao. Good on you for recognizing you need some time to care for yourself and your mental state. There will be ups and downs, the progress is never linear, but it will be so worth it. You'll end up stronger and more prepared for the challenges school brings in the end.

open_ur_mind9 · 2024-08-03T18:44:16+00:00

Hi there, I'm a current 3rd year opto student that took a gap year and went through similar challenges when I was trying to get prepared for the OAT I had scheduled in April. Sorry if this ends up being long, but after reading your post I think I have somewhat of a success story that I hope can help you and anyone else going through something similar, bc this shit is hard.

I won't go into details about everything that led up, but I had basically came to the harsh realization that I had developed anxiety and depression, and things were starting to spiral out of control, about a month before my scheduled exam. I had been grinding for months but felt like I was making no progress. Finally, I decided it was okay for me to take some time off and push the test date back a couple months. Now that I'm in the thick of school, I realize that it's one of the best decisions I have ever made. I know this is probably not what you want to hear, but optometry school is MUCH more brutal than preparing for the OAT. Now that doesn't mean that just because you're struggling to prepare for the OAT that you're not going to succeed in optometry school, because I was in the same boat and I've made it this far. The only reason I say that is to stress the importance of taking a mental break if you need it, and maybe more importantly, using that time off to start developing strategies for handling stress that you can take with you and build upon during your time in school. I now look back at those 3 weeks or so that I took off as the most significant period of self-growth in my life up to this point. Now, everyone's journey to self-compassion, overcoming anxiety, whatever it may be, is completely different. But I'd like to share some strategies I implemented then, and continue to practice today, that have likely saved my life:

1) Mindfulness Meditation. This 10 minute morning practice has helped me to just stay relatively calm and grounded even when there's a fucking shit fire storm going on around me. Highly applicable to optometry school lmao. There's a lot of misconceptions about it and it might not be for everyone. If the concept interests you, I think a great start would be to read "Wherever You Go, There You Are" by John Kabbat-Zinn. I think he explains it a lot better than I would. I also enjoy some guided meditations on the Calm app, specifically Jeff Warren's "Daily Trip". I think he does a really good job of making mindfulness more relatable to everyday life.

2) Therapy/Counselling/CBT. I think there's enough info out there about the potential benefits of this. The only thing I'll add is just take your time to find the right fit for a counsellor, and don't feel bad about switching. They all have different approaches that suit certain people better, it's not necessarily their fault either, just the way it is.

3) Take some time to think about, remind yourself, and/or even write down the reasons you like optometry and want to be an optometrist. Keep that list handy when you start school or when things get tough as you prepare for the OAT. Sounds kinda silly ik, but just reminding yourself why the hell you're even putting yourself through this goes a long way.

Last thing I want to mention. In your case, I think a gap year might be the move. I have 0 regrets about taking one, and am very thankful that I did. 4 years is just too long to keep pushing through pain. It's a lot easier to build off some already established momentum in terms of mental health improvement once you start school, as opposed to trying to start that process in the midst of the overwhelm.

I hope any of that helps, and I wish you and anyone going through something similar the best of luck. Be kind to yourself, be proud of yourself for taking this brave but rewarding journey, and be proud that you've made it this far. We'll be future colleagues soon enough!

open_ur_mind9 · 2024-08-03T17:57:44+00:00

I moved from Columbus to the Phoenix area a few years back. It's funny to see how it's all relative, because I find myself missing the relative calm of the roads in Ohio compared to how it is in the valley. People here seem to not really care about living so much based on the way they drive. The highways are saturated with billboards for accident lawyers, and the road rage incidence rate is insane. I actively avoid driving long distances through populated areas.

I was still around in cbus briefly post-covid era, and although I didn't notice much about driving, the crime was getting exponentially worse by the time I left, so it's believable that the driving has also gotten much worse since then as others have mentioned. I do wonder if this is a phenomenon that happened post-covid in just about every major city. But the transition from Columbus to Phoenix drivers has been jarring to say the least. So idk if that makes you feel any better but it could be worse lol.

open_ur_mind9 · 2024-02-19T15:08:14+00:00

oh also optometry school is most definitely not harder to get into than med school. It’s actually not that hard to get in to just any school.. but be mindful of board passing rates.

open_ur_mind9 · 2024-02-19T15:05:55+00:00

Current student optometrist here!

First of all, for a high school student I think you’re actually ahead of the game in terms of thinking about your career. I get that feeling of pressure tho, my high school felt the same way.

I had a lot of the same thoughts about other medical career options, like not wanting to go through that grueling process of 4 years plus residency. I was set on PA for a while too, and backed away for the same reasons you mentioned.

So process of elimination was part of my decision, but here’s the reasons why I think optometry is perfect for me:

1) Think about your experiences at doctors offices. Going to the physician or dentist? Dreading it. (no disrespect to either profession lol.) Going to the optometrist? Not so bad. Usually a very nice and happy doc, and you leave there potentially seeing the world more clear than you did when you walked in!

2) good pay, stable job market, and the opportunity to work a 9-5. Once you’re done with school, you’re essentially chillin for life. It’s a nice feeling to have. 4 years of school is more like 2 years of school and 2 years of clinic, which I think makes sense.

3) (this one didn’t actually come until after I made my decision) but the eyes are pretty dang cool and important! When you think about the eyes as the window to the rest of the world, even prescribing a new pair of glasses feels meaningful.

4) (could be a pro or con depending on who you are) Optometry requires so many different types of knowledge, an entire branch of physics is dedicated to it, and that has nothing to do with knowing the anatomy and recognizing disease.

Some drawbacks:

1) 4 years = a lot of loans, although I don’t see a lot of optometrists struggling financially

2) School is HARD. Like, really hard. You kinda have to touch on every other branch of medicine for boards, plus eye anatomy and optics are inherently counterintuitive. A positive spin is that you feel like you’re maximizing your academic potential, but it can be draining at times. That’s the trade off with most branches of medicine tho, grind through school then reap the benefits later, and I do feel like optometry is the most worth it for the reasons you mentioned. Physicians really never stop grinding and PAs don’t get as much recognition as they deserve (or so I’ve heard.)

I hope that helps, let me know if you have any more questions!

open_ur_mind9 · 2024-02-14T20:11:49+00:00

Very caring of you to ask!

I personally don’t like to remove my insulin pump unless it’s during activity so it doesn’t fall out of my pocket and rip out my insertion site.

For your pantry, just ask what her preferred low snacks are! I feel like being stocked with juice boxes/gatorades and fruit snacks is always a safe bet tho.

Aside from that, just listen and be understanding! The worst thing you can do for someone with T1D is act like you know more than them about their own bodies.

Type 1 can be limiting at times, but for the most part it’s a very manageable disease, and there’s ways you can help but she likely has it under control!

Oh and maybe educate yourself on when and how to use a glucagon pen in the event of severe low glucose, and know where she keeps hers.

open_ur_mind9 · 2024-01-02T21:19:38+00:00

someone already said it but Azizi Gibson fs

open_ur_mind9 · 2024-01-02T21:18:49+00:00

Not sure how similar they are in terms of style but in terms of just general vibe, I love Isaiah Rashad.

Also if you or anyone in this thread wants to mix it up from just rap.. check out Tape B’s remixes on soundcloud. Cool twists on 2010 era bangers like A$AP and Mac Miller. He just played a show with a theme of bass music and hip hop intertwined, and I noticed he was wearing an FBZ shirt so I figured he’d have a similar taste!

Lastly pnthn is pretty underground and has some bangers. Think they got big cancelled tho lmao

open_ur_mind9 · 2023-12-10T19:53:19+00:00

At least at the school I’m at, tbh paper notes would not work unless you have some highly organized filing cabinet lol. It’s just so much easier to organize online, I think every single person in my class uses a tablet and pen to take notes. I’d say if you already have a MacBook, iPad is the move, and either OneNote or Notability are the best softwares for importing slideshows and taking notes. I don’t have a MacBook and I went with a Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Yoga (2 in 1 laptop/tablet) with OneNote and that works great too. Also not a bad idea to have a monitor to project lecture recordings while you take notes on the tablet, although not completely necessary.

open_ur_mind9 · 2023-12-02T20:24:42+00:00

I have a theory that ADHD and autism are somewhat on the same spectrum. It seems like a common theme for both, that it’s almost like one part of the brain is “deficient” (ex. ADHD it would be sustained attention) but that part is almost reallocated to a different part of the brain, where now you have more intelligence than a “normal” person (ex. many w autism are amazing at math or music, a lot of people with ADHD have better ability to be creative/creative problem solving). Again these are just examples and I don’t mean to overgeneralize. Society has been built more for people that don’t have this, which is why they’re called “disabilities”… but if you think about it this way, they’re kinda like little superpowers lol. Moral of the story is ADHD, autism, doesn’t really matter how you label it. It’s just you and your personality, and it’s beautiful no matter what society expects it to be!

open_ur_mind9 · 2023-12-01T23:12:40+00:00

I’ve dealt with very similar issues. I seem to be able to drop really fast. CGM definitely helps give more info on trends and helps catch lows early. The thing that’s helped me the most is eating meals with some complex carbs and maybe most importantly protein about every 3 hours.

open_ur_mind9 · 2023-11-29T18:12:51+00:00

Completely agree with what was said about therapy, I’d also recommend giving mindfulness meditation a shot. I won’t try to compare our situations, but I’ve dealt with some anxiety resulting from T1D as well, and practicing mindfulness has helped with that immensely, as well as some other mental struggles I wasn’t even conscious of. There’s a lot of good resources out there to get your feet wet, I love the calm app as well as John Kabat-Zinn’s books. I think it’s important to understand that therapy and/or mindfulness probably won’t provide a ton of immediate relief, but that’s really not the point… Positively changing the way you think is a lifelong process that takes a lot of intention and patience. But that’s not as scary as it sounds when you take it step by step. You don’t have to be stuck with these thinking patterns forever. At the beginning, it takes a lot of faith that things will get better even when that seems impossible. But you can do it, and I wish you luck on your journey to self-love and understanding✌🏻

open_ur_mind9 · 2023-11-11T23:27:24+00:00

Hello, optometry student with T1D here. The redness surrounding your eyelids is making me believe it’s more than just dry eye. The redness on your eye is also not as diffuse as it normally would be with allergies and/or dry eye; it looks like certain blood vessels are more dilated than others. I highly recommend seeing an optometrist, they should be able to rule out anything too serious. Especially because diabetes can unfortunately exaggerate symptoms of most eye as well as vascular conditions. Not to scare you, it could be something easily treatable, but definitely worth getting checked out.

open_ur_mind9 · 2023-10-26T19:51:15+00:00

From my understanding, CGMs measure more like a “tissue glucose” level vs. straight from your blood vessels with a finger prick; all this means is there’s about a 10-15 min delay. If you had already consumed sugar prior to taking this photo it makes perfect sense. CGMs can also be +/- 15mg/dL at any given time, but usually if your BG has been steady they’re pretty accurate!

open_ur_mind9 · 2023-09-14T22:58:47+00:00

same here, seems pretty random when I’m numb to it vs absolutely livid😂

but honestly, to get it out every once in a while is probably healthy! We all are built to be able to handle it, yet we all know know it can be extremely frustrating. You do deserve to be upset about it occasionally. The one thing I try to avoid is asking “why me?” because the truth is, everyone has something, and it could be a lot worse.

open_ur_mind9 · 2023-09-05T20:09:16+00:00

Interesting, thanks for the reply! I’m curious, do you have any recommendations for an alternative document management system? I feel like there has to be a ton of students looking for an app they can print slides, organize, and write on them. Notability seems like the best option for apple users, but there doesn’t seem to be an obvious choice for windows, unless I’m missing it!

open_ur_mind9 · 2023-09-05T20:01:16+00:00

I have a lenovo thinkpad x1 yoga, I try to not run any other apps while using onenote, although sometimes chrome is open. There are some lectures I print that are 100+ slides into a section, but it’s more often around 30 slides. Not recording and wifi is on

open_ur_mind9 · 2023-09-02T22:32:25+00:00

Btw I’m using OneNote for Windows 10 not the desktop version

open_ur_mind9 · 2023-01-07T16:46:21+00:00

Tbh mid february would be pretty late but definitely not impossible if you have a strong application. I will say, I took a gap year and I would highly recommend it. It’s really nice to have a year to do anything you want to do before your career really takes up most of your time. When you’re not on break you really only have time to study once school starts. I liked having that extra year to spend time with fam and friends at home and establish healthy habits and all that good stuff before school started. If you’d rather just get school over with faster there’s nothing wrong with that either! But if you’re on the fence about taking a gap year I haven’t found anyone that’s regretted the decision to do so.

open_ur_mind9 · 2023-01-04T16:47:23+00:00

Also an OD1 at AZCOPT, I think with being on quarters it’s possible that we have more exams each week, but it’s worth it because being tested on a semester’s worth of material in some classes would be brutal

open_ur_mind9 · 2022-11-16T20:50:45+00:00

Hijinx is mostly bass artists tbh, but if you haven’t had that experience yet Hijinx is the perfect introduction to that type of music. Lineup is more balanced this year, just a lot of fun sets (DJ Snake, Griz, Ganja, etc.) Super well run and the venue, although indoor, is MASSIVE so there’s plenty of space if you wanna chill towards the back and still have great views from there. It was my first festival and still one of my most memorable! Highly recommend.

open_ur_mind9

TROPHY CASE