Struggles of Adjusting to Medical School

Profession: Medical Student

Submitted On: November 24th, 2020

Trigger Warnings: anxiety

"As an MS1 heading into Thanksgiving Break, I'd like to reflect a bit about how the first few months of medical school has been going amidst the pandemic and what I'm thankful for. I'm not going to lie, I have definitely started struggling with anxiety. A lot of it has to do with how the online learning has been. My heart flutters when I'm constantly thinking about what else I might missing, what material I haven't covered yet, and how behind I feel all the time. Self care, exercise, and 8 hours of sleep per night was out the door before the first block exam. Loneliness and isolation began to creep in, and I felt powerless to fight them. But looking back, I'm so thankful that I'm here. I'm very thankful that I'm still able to perform dissections on a real cadaver in anatomy lab (and thankful towards the donor). I'm very thankful that I get to be face to face with real patients and start developing my skills as a caregiver. All this despite the pandemic. I'm beginning to realize that being in the medical field is about managing expectations. It's going to suck no matter what. Your mental health is probably going to be impacted. You're never going to be able to know everything that you need to know. You're probably gonna lose patients in your career. But being thankful that you are here at this point despite it all has been the real lesson of 2020 and these first few months of medical school, a lesson that I'll keep learning as I get closer to becoming a physician."

We appreciate the opportunity to share stories like these with our community, with the goal of destigmatizing the struggles faced within the medical field.