Anthony T.
Photo provided by Anthony T.
If you’re reading this, stop and take a look around.
Medical school is a blur. Wake up, watch lectures, Anki reviews, OSCE, watch lectures, shadow, volunteer, Anki reviews, extracurriculars, Anki reviews. Breaks pass in the blink of an eye, and sleep comes at a premium. Everything moves so quickly and yet the finish line always seems just out of reach. With all this, it is so easy to get caught up in the rush of the infinite to-do list and forget why you chose to go into medicine in the first place. At least, this is what happened to me.
Throughout my first year of medical school, I became so bogged down in lectures, diagrams, and flashcards. Mustering up the motivation to study felt like climbing up a never-ending mountain. It wasn’t until spring break when I traveled to Cuernavaca, Mexico with classmates and faculty on a medical immersion experience, that I realized what I was missing were moments of reflection: continuous reminders of why I answered this calling in the first place.
And so, I discovered the art of stopping to take a look around. Now, I invite you to do this with me.
What do you see? How do you feel? Maybe you’re feeling motivated with peers studying in the library. Maybe you’re exhausted and distracted in lecture. Maybe you’re nervous on the wards waiting for your next patient.
No matter where you are, when you stop to take a look around and ground yourself in the present moment, you begin to appreciate it. What a joy to be surrounded by so many like-minded people who all possess the courage to answer the enduring call to medicine. What a privilege to embark on a journey that continuously pushes you past your limits. What a blessing, however difficult, to have the opportunity to make a real, immediate impact on someone’s life in a time of need.
In these short pauses, we begin to recognize medicine for all that it encompasses: the beauty and the hardship, the gratification and the failures, the stress and the joy. None of these experiences exists in isolation, and each is part of the journey we chose to undertake. We may not be able to make the workload disappear or slow the pace of medical school, but perhaps acknowledging the full experience can make it a little more manageable.
So stop and take a look around. Experience this whirlwind of a journey that is medical school for everything that it is.
Anthony T., Second Year Medical Student
Several studies have revealed that medical students, physicians, and healthcare professionals experience mental health symptoms at rates significantly higher than the general population. Stethos[Cope] is a chapter of IfYoureReadingThis designed to help medical students and professionals cope with the unique stressors of medical training and change the narrative of mental health in medicine.
To read more letters and interviews from students, and to learn more about mental health in the medical community, visit the Stethos[Cope] home page.