I know I haven’t posted in a while I would love to get into the flow of things and post possibly every day every month but recently I have not been my usual self.
Rejection
I got rejected from my medical school transfer programme. I got an interview for it a week ago which was amazing and I was really happy, I worked really hard to get my grades in the 80% range for the last two years in my Biomedical Science Degree.
I then studied really hard for the interview and I did in total 10 mock interviews with family, friends and uni staff. But, I still didn’t get the offer, I wasn’t in the top 20 out of 100. The university admissions refused to give out feedback.
It sucked.
Now, I have to study for GAMSAT which is an Australian admissions exam for graduate entry medical school another BEAST in itself. Requires 3 months of studying (I only have 1 month). So the odds are not exactly in my favour.
Burnout
Definition: a : exhaustion of physical or emotional strength or motivation usually as a result of prolonged stress or frustration b : a person suffering from burnout
(I really recommend reading Pubmed Health – What is burnout? for the different signs and symptoms)
Recently I made the mistake of trying to force myself to study and it led me to experience the symptoms of burnout where I would just feel unmotivated, not myself, and unhappy. I realised I haven’t had a holiday, I just got rejected from transferring into medical school AND COFFEE IS NOT A FOOD GROUP!
The lack of sleeping, eating, and happiness was really beginning to take a toll on my life.
Coping
In highly stressful situations you may be more prone to suffer from burnout – the cause of mine has been due to the immense pressure I put myself under without relaxing and working incredibly hard in not only my studies but also my job, research projects etc.
SO I thought I would put a few bullet points which I am going to follow to replenish myself
Make self care and happiness a priority
- Catch up on sleep. Don’t set an alarm and just sleep. After that ensure you make a sleep schedule where you strictly follow the time you will go to bed and wake up.
- Have an exercise schedule, do yoga, running, cycling just one hour a day to get those endorphins.
- Reduce caffeine intake
- Drink enough water every day
- Eat good food and less carbohydrates, more vegetables and protein
- Practise mindfulness / meditation every day
- Start studying slowly and replenish myself.
- Enjoy a hobby, gardening and cooking.
This may sound really easy but I genuinely think that following a routine like this will be hard for the next few weeks but I will give it my all.
P.s. if you feel your symptoms of burnout are a lot more severe then the minor ones, I would suggest talking to your GP or a councillor to get offical medical help alongside the small lifestyle changes I suggested above so you can get the proper support!
The reason why I am writing this post is because not many people show the difficulties of getting into / completing medical school. It’s really hard on you emotionally and physically. Sometimes you just need to take your own time to process what happened before going into the next stage of your life.
Sorry for the serious post I will write tomorrow with something a lot more exciting and do an update on whether these tips helped me get back on track!
Food, Fitness & Medicine 