Feeling completely overwhelmed by school? Struggling to dog paddle your way through memorizing origins and insertions, only to be shoved down the deep end by what most teams would call a season-ending injury?

Well, welcome to my roller-coaster start to physical therapy school. Get strapped in.

Let's start with a case study: 24-year-old female. R knee post-op ACL-R and medial meniscus repair. Occupation: First-year physical therapy student. Red flag!

Needless to say, things were quite chaotic in year 1. I was still having PTSD-like flashbacks of the emotional turmoil of first semester.

As a quick recap I was on the brink of failing anatomy, while other courses were simply not reflecting my best work. Luckily, I pulled it together enough to pass and was eventually able to diaphragmatically breathe again without hyperventilating by the time Christmas came along.

January quickly rolled in, and I was slowly moving past what I perceived as the worst chapter of my life in physical therapy school.