The Day Before An Exam

The weekend has come and gone.  Almost all of it spent studying with a few sanity breaks here and there.  It is interesting to sit back and watch the pre-test mind and the post-test mind.  The pre-test mind hates medical school and wants nothing more than to just drop out.  The post-test mind is rational about the volume of material and somewhat energized about another step that has come and gone.  The beauty of medical school is that with each exam, you can feel the accomplishment and progress.

There are pros and cons to each year of medical school, except the 4th year.  This is why I consider medical school to be a 3 year program with the 4th for refinement and applications.  Being in the second year of med school, the pros are more interesting material than the 1st, beginning to feel like you understand what is going on, feeling like you are making progress, and still having control over your schedule.  The cons are the volume is more than the first, the pace is more rapid, and burning out.  The burn out feeling didn't affect me as much during 1st year because it was all SO NEW.  Having already done first year, the process of being fed medical material is not as exciting.  I can recall the first lecture during first year, I got chills down my spine when we were taught a disease.  I had this feeling of, YES finally I have arrived.  My how quickly that feeling has evolved into a complete disdain.  What a realization!

I'm sure when I'm in third year, in near tears from lack of sleep and dying to just be at home with my SO and girls, I will probably reflect with the theme of my life: "those were the days".  I can look back a mere few years and think "Oh, that was such a great time then", but during that time I thought "Oh that will be the day when I'm in medical school".  Tomorrow is not promised, time to start living today.

I leave you with the following quote:


"Life is difficult.  This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult--once we truly understand and accept it--then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters."  -M. Scott Peck The Road Less Traveled