Good Morning, Future Medical Assistants — Don’t You Dare Give Up
Good morning, besties.
If you’re reading this before class, before a shift, or while dragging yourself out of bed after four hours of sleep - this one’s for you.
From April to September, I worked overnight and attended school full time. I was exhausted, overwhelmed, and honestly running on caffeine and stubbornness. I grew up homeschooled, so I learned quickly and differently — sometimes in ways that made people laugh. Once, during a spelling test, the teacher hadn’t even started the list yet, and I already had 17 out of 21 words written down. Funny? Yes. But it also proved something important: I didn’t fit the “normal” way of learning, and that wasn’t a weakness.. it was a strength.
A lot of the classes were difficult. There were nights where sleep sounded like the most beautiful thing in the world, but instead I was studying, practicing, preparing, and showing up. And even through the chaos, I was always on the President’s List.
And trust me.. the environment wasn’t easy. There was drama. Actual harassment. People putting Play-Doh in my car keyhole… (who even does that?) But I kept going.
Then came externship from October to December.
Sixteen-hour days.
Overnight job ➜ unpaid externship ➜ studying for my NHA.
Three hours of sleep.
Caffeine in every form.
Feet aching.
Surrounded by passive-aggressive attitudes, liars, trash-talkers, and people who smiled at you one minute and whispered the next.
Not everyone was like that, but enough of them were.
I could have quit. A hundred times over, I could have said “I’m done.”
I could’ve kept my overnight job, slept more, gone to events I desperately wanted to attend. I even begged to go part-time because Mondays were hell. But I didn’t quit. I pushed until the very end and because of that, I passed my NHA with one of the highest scores my school had seen in a long time.
But here’s the part people don’t talk about:
Even after all that… I couldn’t land a job.
Interview after interview, rejection email after rejection email. Seven months of nothing. Seven months of fighting the thought, “Maybe you’re not good enough.”
I left my night job believing something had to break eventually. I took a temporary retail job for a week and right in the middle of that, my director called. A job offer. Not an MA position, but something in the field.
I was ecstatic!! 🤩
I showed up on time but got lost in the winding halls and mixed-up signs… and ended up being late. Which somehow worked in my favor because my now-bosses had just gotten out of a meeting. I was winded, flustered, absolutely not giving “perfect candidate” energy — but they saw something in me. They hired me not long after my shadow shift.
And now?
I’m a Unit Secretary in a facility I’ve wanted to work in for years.. surrounded by patient, supportive people. I finally have my foot in the door. I finally feel like I’m moving forward.
I’m sharing all this for one reason:
Don’t you dare give up.
Be tired.
Be stressed.
Cry if you need to.
Vent, scream, decompress, fall apart for a minute.
But don’t stop.
You will graduate.
You will walk across that stage.
You will wear those scrubs — whether it’s as an MA, a unit secretary, a tech, or something you didn’t expect but desperately needed.
Your foot in the door is still a foot in the door.
One step forward is still progress.
And the path that feels “different” or “out of order”?
Sometimes that ends up being the exact beginning you needed.
I’m not perfect. I’m not special. I’m just stubborn - and I want you to succeed the way I know you can. Even on the days it feels impossible.
Keep going. Your future patients, your future coworkers, and your future self are all waiting for YOU.
