Eating to Ease Anxiety

The problem with constantly being around 160 other overachieving overachievers is the stress. Overachieving overachievers tend to stress other overachieving overachievers out. This begins an "enzymatic cascade" (sorry, too much biochemistry on the brain), leading to anxiety on top of stress on top of apprehension on top of worriment, with a little bit of nail-biting on the side. That's what happens in preparation before your first medical school exam, and it's something that I am determined to avoid. Fortunately, a good group of us here at the UNC School of Medicine have found a cure for this proliferating ailment. We eat!

Last Sunday night I hosted a meal at the Condo. On the menu was baja chipotle and herb and garlic grilled chicken, corn on the cob, fresh green salad, watermelon, wine, and an assortment of desserts. I manned the grill, and we were able to seat all eleven of us: Justin and co., the roomie and Laura, Andie and Robby 2.0, Klara and Evan, Lauriane, Sarah, and I all crammed onto the deck to enjoy a relaxing meal. We had table cloth ($4.95 a piece - thank you Target), candles, and lemon-scented mosquito repellent that I think actually included mosquito mating fragrances because they seemed only to make the situation worse. But we ate, the mosquitoes ate, and for a good three hours no one was studying. To continue our bad habits, Lauriane, Natalie, Julia and I had soup night the following evening over in Southern Village. I made chilled cucumber soup (it was a hit - thank you Mom), ate cheese and crackers, and found out what a "Rainbow Kiss" is (if you really want to know, ask Julia. I'm afraid 5th grade sex-education humor is not appropriate in this forum).

However, most of this week has indeed been devoted to studying. For a good four days of week #1, I tried to pretend I was still not in med school. I exercised 2-3 hours a day, caught up on my news, hung out with friends, etc. Apparently that doesn't work so well. So since last Thursday I have studied at least 4 hours a day, desperately trying to make up for lost time. What made it even worse was I tried to make notecards for all our material. About a sixth of the way through I gave up (I was estimating writing around 800 cards in all, so I called it a day around 162), and started a new study method: making electronic outlines. That, however, set me back another few days, and I've had to increase my study time to about 6 hours a day. Annnnnd we have a test on Monday.

The good news is I have found a study strategy that I like. Now whether it works is a totally different issue. I guess we'll see on Monday after Test #1, and then I can tweak it as needed. My goal is to improve my score on every test this block, fine tuning my technique for when it counts (anatomy starts mid-October). I do feel like I'm getting into the swing of things though, and putting in some good work everyday is starting to get pleasantly routine, and perhaps a little fun. Just a little though.

What I lack in Biochemistry I make up for in Introduction to Clinical Medicine (ICM) and Medicine in Society. These are my go-to courses. Clinical skills and medical philosophy are what's keeping me going this semester. I love patient interviewing (first standardized patient interview in a couple weeks!), and waxing philosophical about illness and disease. For the first time in my life I've actually done extra readings. This is more due to procrastination in lieu of learning biochem (sorry Mom I still haven't grown out of that skill yet), but it is much more interesting. Soon we'll have to write about our experience with personal illness, and I'll post that essay in the next few weeks. Premise: sure I've been sick, but I don't believe I've ever been ill.

Test #1 is t-minus 62 hours. Wish me luck!