Motivation and the Wall

Our class has made it through 6 weeks of class already! And in that 6 weeks, I like to think that we've accomplished a lot. We made it through our first set of dissections, learning and appreciating all the complexity of the human body (1). We've made it through our first set of test, and all the studying that entailed (2). We partied it up, and now we're back to studying.

After all of this the novelty is starting to wear off. And the studying is getting overwhelming. We all were studying for that first exam like we did for finals in college.... only we studied that hard for 3 weeks. After the exam we took a few days off and now we're in head and neck (which is supposed to be the worse of the gross anatomy units). Let's just say that we are all hitting a wall, or at least I am (some of my friends commented about hitting it during the first unit). There is only so many days in a row that you can go to class for 8 hours, study for 8 hours, and sleep for 6 (3). I'm exhausted and am having a hard time focusing.

Take this “weekend” for example. On Thursday we had a study day. We were done with classes by noon. I went to student senate elections and then to the tour guide meeting (4)

S told me during class on Friday that I couldn't study on Friday because I was too stressed. I made the promise and followed through. Right after school I drove out to the suburbs to meet my mom for dinner and bought a new iPOD (5). By the time I got back people were at the apartment and we ended up heading over a few blocks to a club to dance the night away and to dance in the birthday of one of the guys in our group. So, no studying happened on Friday, even though I was up until 3 am (oops).

Yesterday I slept in. I was going to get 8 hours if my life depended on it. That means I woke up at 11 am. I didn't start studying until 2, but studied until 6:30. During this time I kept wanting to go outside and play. It has been VERY hard to study during the day when it's so welcoming outside. I want to play before it becomes nasty out. But I can't, I'm a med student.

Instead, however, we did go over to a friends house for awhile and hung out/went to the sketchiest street festival ever (6). However, now it's Sunday. I'm leaving for church in about 15 minutes (which is a problem as I still have a towel on my head, why am I still blogging?!?) But I just don't want to study. I know I need to, but the motivation is lacking. What do you do to get the motivation back, besides scaring it into you because a test is coming?!


SIDE NOTES:
(1) Religious side note: The human body is amazingly complex and every time I look at it and see all the little pieces I can help to marvel. It is times like these that I go, "wow, God is so cool!" It's hard for me to look at the body and not see the hand of God. I'll toss it out there that I'm not a 7 day creationist, but believe that God could have directed evolution, but I'm not putting down stakes in any camp right now. However, it's so hard for me to understand classmates looking at the body as proof that God doesn't exist. I just can't follow their logic on that one.

(2) After our first exam (lab practical), I turned to my friends and said, "It's official. We are now med students." Yes, we may have been going to med school for 4 weeks by then, but I just had this sense that the M2s just wouldn't take us seriously until we actually made it through exams.

(3). Yes, I realize that this does not add up to 24. But let's be honest, between commuting, eating, and doing all the other random stuff, I'm sure that I can allot 2 hours to the miscellaneous stuff of life.

(4) I’m really excited about being a tour guide. It’s something I really wanted to do in undergrad but something that was competitive to get. Therefore, I just didn’t apply.... yes, I’m that type A... I don’t like to fail. It’s also the reason that I’ve never really run for positions in clubs or student senate. I like leading, I just don’t like getting rejected from leadership. Anyways, I am so excited about

(5) My last one died while living in Thailand and I have to listen to music while studying. It cuts out the distractions. So, the iPOD is essential for med school studying... or at least this is how I rationalize my buying a new nano.

(6) Mom, don't worry... I was in a group that had guys and I left as soon as I realized that it wasn't the kind of place I should be at. And a friend called once I was home, I reassured them that I was safe in at the apartment.