Friday, March 16, 2012

Mental Preparation

I just thought, "Why is studying the kidneys so hard? It feels harder than cardio...and cardio was supposed to be the hardest?!" And that got me thinking...

Everyone in medical school talks about how hard the cardiology unit is going to be. That's all I heard for the year and a half leading up to it. I was prepared for the worst. Now it's over and it didn't seem so bad. (Of course that's always easier to say when something is over...I know.)

I was warned by many and am still reminded by my classmates about how terribly hard med school is. And so far, I've picked up more hobbies and had more good times with friends than I could have anticipated. Med school isn't that bad. But then again, I was prepared for and expected the worst. So, it's like cardiology.

My hardest semester in undergrad, I got my best grades. My easiest semester, I got my worst grades. I think (hope) you see my point...

Now I'm studying the genitourinary system. I am not prepared for it. Mostly mentally. We started it right after finishing spring break. It's hard. I thought it would be easy. So...this is my thought.

I think I know why it's hard. I didn't prepare. I didn't mentally prepare for it to be hard, and when I struggle with it, it catches me off guard and I loathe it. Strong word, but yes, I loathe the genitourinary system right now. I don't have any real desire to master it because I didn't enter into it with a "I'm going to try to do really well!!" attitude.

I hear boards are hard. Really hard. I hear studying for them is hard. Mentally, physically, and emotionally. I hope what experience is telling me is that if I prepare for the worst...it will end up not actually being that bad. Logical thought, yeah? Yes.

That was my thought as I was trying to figure out why studying this stuff was so hard for me. This is my conclusion. My expectation and subsequent preparation for something being hard is apparently directly proportional to its success. Now that that's settled, I can get back to studying...

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