I was sitting in my Medical Careers class, listening to Dr. Berezniak, the Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs at LECOM-Bradenton (Lake Erie College of Medicine, Bradenton, Florida), speak about his journey into osteopathic medicine. What he said resonated with me: find a doctor that listens to you. I believe this statement can relate to any aspect of life, because when you have someone that listens to you, you can be more successful.

How do I find someone that will listen to me? By constantly talking to new people. I remember being six years old, flying solo to see my dad in Illinois. Somehow I left the plane with pen pals of other unaccompanied minors after only a two-hour flight. Being able to establish a connection with someone has helped me so much up to this day in college.

I have a lot of crazy ideas in my head, and they eventually come up in conversation when the communication with others is natural. I learned that there may be 19 people who do not care to listen to my crazy idea, but it only takes the one person who listens enough to help execute my idea. Keep talking until you find that one person.

By talking to others, I have also found people to help me through a long-fought battle of medical misguidance. I was born with a condition where my skin gets easily dry and itchy, called eczema, or atopic dermatitis. This condition is more than skin deep, yet I continually saw dermatologists who knew they were giving me harmful medicines to band-aid the issue As they only specialize in skin, they did not know how to properly address the underlying issues. What I really needed was a referral to someone more equipped to heal my internal issues which could, in turn, heal the external issues.

As my condition grew much, much worse upon entering adulthood, I learned how to speak out on my behalf, as intimate my story was, because I was desperate for relief. The suffering led me to a community of supporters that truly understood what I needed, and thus pointed me in the right direction to healing. I believe that the troubles I went through were necessary for me to learn the importance of seeking out someone who will give me what I need to prosper.

Sometimes what someone truly needs is buried beneath the surface, and they need to dig it out. I learned time and time again what does not work for me, so that I could figure out the one thing that does work. I learned that everyone has to take their own path toward their individual success, but that's not to say they have to go down their path alone. Sometimes, someone needs a tin man, scarecrow, or lion to link arms with all the way down the Yellow Brick Road to find the Emerald City. So whether it be a doctor, a counselor, or a friend, find someone who will listen to you so that you can get to your own Emerald City. Don't give up on your search and keep expressing your concerns. In turn, you will learn to truly listen to yourself.