Becoming A Physical Psychologist

Growing up, I knew I wanted to do something in the medical field—no hesitation about it. I knew I wanted to devote my time to aiding others in need. Because of my aspiration to guide others, it led to the inconsistency of my career choices that I wanted pursue. It would change from the desire to become a pediatrician to an orthodontist to a clinical psychologist. However, after a specific incident that took place, I realized that becoming a physical therapist would be my purpose. Thus, leading for the desire to study kinesiology.

The very incident—mild compared to others—changed my state of mind when I sprained my ankle for the very first time. I was in the middle of a volleyball game when I called out “Here!” I took three leaps forward with

my arms bent out behind me to gain momentum, jumped, swung my right arm forward and hit the ball to the opponent’s courtside. As I was coming down, I landed on the outer side of my right foot causing it to bend inwards and putting my entire body weight on the lateral ligaments of my ankle. I hobbled over the seats with the help of my teammates and managed to carefully wrap my ankle with an ankle wrap bandage. Nevertheless, I was unable to continue with the game.

After the unexpected outcome of the game, I iced my ankle for quite some time and proceeded to hesitantly wrap both my hands around the arch of my foot and gently roll it around. I started to count the rotations, both clock and counterclockwise. I started to count ten second intervals of pointing my foot forward, left, right and then back. I started to imagine the joints, the muscles and the ligaments all connected and how they depended on each other to execute a specific movement.

My curiosity of the human body soon blossomed, which further influenced the various science classes I am taking in high school—anatomy and physiology, AP biology, AP psychology, double honors chemistry and physics. Developing a wider variety of knowledge in each of these subjects fed my fascination to make an impact on one’s potential.

My compassion to helping others never strayed out of sight either. It drove me to study the awareness and ability to physically see a person’s progress and new-found capacity to fully participate in society.