I just received my MCAT Test scores back this afternoon. I did extremely well, taking into consideration how much stress and agony the last few weeks of preparation was. For a very long time, I was dearly, dearly petrified of the MCAT. Many times I would look at and open my prep books, only to shudder in disgust and turn away, wishing that I could just become a college drop-out, or something equally disastrous.

As time wore on, that fear intensified to the point that when any of my friends or family mentioned the MCAT, I would turn pale and change the subject as soon as a I could, simply because I couldn’t bear the thought my nemesis. It became even worse, affecting my sleep in the most awkward ways possible, as I would contemplate, sheets rumpled and eyes wide open, the thought of actually taking the test. No longer was it a simple five-hour test of subjects I had finished, it turned into this primordial monster, with excellent, or even passing scores being no more than fantasy, and defeat almost certain.

It really is interesting to think about how such things form, our phobias. Not overnight and not within days, but formed in months, years of dreadful imagination. And it takes nothing more than a little courage to finally do battle with our own creations. But to amass that little courage, to allow it to flourish and motivate one to battle his enemies – that is indeed difficult.