Last Wednesday, I took a day to myself. I decided that it was cold out and I just needed to bake a cake. So, I did a little remote med school learning from my desk at home and decided to exercise my KitchenAid mixer. It was an afternoon well spent. I decided to carry on with the pumpkin spice season by making a pumpkin chai cake with a maple syrup icing. It has been a while since I baked a layer cake, but I still got it! :) See the recipe here!
In these past few weeks, I have been reflecting on the question, “When is my life going to get any less busy?”. I mean seriously. Four years of medical school, three or more years of residency, and so on. When will I be able to stop saying, “I won’t be able to make it tonight, I have to study.” Or “I would… but med school. I hope you understand.” It is crazy how the years of my 20s are the ones that are really molding me into an adult and a professional, but somehow, I feel the need to skip out on the life experiences that make me wholesome and happy. When will there be time to focus on me?
In medicine, there is a constant talk about wellness for patients. Physicians tell patients they should eat more fruits and vegetables, get at least 10,000 steps a day, and get 8 hours of good-quality sleep a night. But which patients are really doing that? And the bigger question, which physicians and medical students are practicing what they preach? The bottom line is that IT IS HARD to fit all of these things into a 24-hour day. There are so many other things to worry about – work, school, bills, family, Christmas shopping, and so on. And somehow in the midst of all of these things, it is easy to let wellness slip.
So how is my wellness in medical school? Let me start off by saying that I am not perfect. I can tell you about my good days and my bad days. I can tell you of the multiple locations I have cried in the library. I study a lot, but I made a pact to myself during the first week of orientation that I was not going to skip out on the things that I enjoy doing. I still go to the football games to cheer on the Mountaineers. I still make time to cook dinner. I still call my mom or dad every day. I just have to do it all with moderation. And usually, if I have something to look forward to in the evening, I study harder in the afternoon knowing that when I am finished, I can fully enjoy what I have planned to do.
My sister made a comment to me a few weeks ago. She said, “ALL WE DO FOR FUN ANYMORE IS COOK DINNER.” I laughed because it is true. We don’t get out much. But we know that our idea of a good time is dancing in the kitchen to Michael Bublé while we cook up a storm. When we pack our lunches and dinners to study at the library all week, it is nice to come home and enjoy a fresh meal with my roomies. No distractions –no homework, no Instagram (unless the food is particular beautiful and we need to snap a photo), and no complaining about school. Dinner time is a critical part of my wellness. I try to make it happen as often as possible and include other people, so it can become a part of their wellness, too.
One of the best things that I have made a habit of doing regularly is group fitness. I have been going to a HIIT (high intensity interval training) workout for 6 months now. Call me crazy, but I get up every weekday morning to go to class at 6:15AM. I learned that if I didn’t exercise in the morning, I would never get to working out in the evening. I get a tough workout in before I start the day, and I do it with the same people by my side every morning. I cannot say enough good things about group fitness! I used to be one who worked out on her own. I mostly just ran or used cardio machines. But now, I do strength training in addition to a cardio workout. I am not the strongest nor the best at every exercise, but there is so much positive energy in the class that I feel accomplished whenever I leave. I look forward to going every single morning. It boosts my mood, my energy, and my focus for the rest of the day.
Last week in class, we had a lecture on wellness. One of the topics was physical activity, and the following guidelines were displayed.
Adults should participate in 150-300 minutes a week of moderate intensity aerobic physical activity.
Adults should do muscle strengthening activities two or more days a week.
Additional health benefits are gained by exceeding the 300 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity a week.
When I heard these guidelines, I thought THAT IS A LOT OF TIME TO SPEND EACH WEEK EXERCISING. Seriously, who does that?
Actually, me! And let me tell you, it is so good for my health and wellness. I can focus better when I exercise. I eat healthier after I exercise. And I sleep better, too. So yeah, I spend a lot of my time at gym. But to me, that is not a time of my day that I consider to be a waste. I waste my time scrolling through Facebook before I go to bed. That is how I make bad use of my time. The minutes I spend exercising are some of the most productive minutes of my day.
So, how is the first semester of medical school going? Honestly, really great! The hardest part is having the stamina to study all day. It’s easy to get bored, distracted, or achy when sitting at a cubicle staring at the blood clotting cascade for hours. The material itself is not any more difficult than undergrad. The difference is the load of material. So, it is easy to get burnt out or discouraged. That is why wellness is so important. It can be easy to lose sight of my happiness in the moment when I am so stressed about what lies ahead. All I can do is take it one day at a time. When my brain and body say I need to stop studying, I should probably listen. No one knows what is better for me than myself.
Life is all about balance. Right now, I know what works for me. I find my happiness in group exercise, cooking, baking, and catching up with my family over the phone. But the things that contribute to my wellness now could be totally different than what will in the future. The important thing is that I keep a conscious watch on my wellness. If I need to take a day from school to bake a cake, then maybe I should remember to do it more often! It can be really easy to forget to focus on me. But by focusing on me, I can become who I want to be. And I am the person who is destined to be a great physician.
Becoming the physician comes through learning about medicine, of course. However, I can only be my best, mentally and physically, when I focus on myself. It is good to reflect on my own wellness. And in knowing my own wellness, I can better lookout for the wellness of others.
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