Last week was a tough week. We have quite a few exams in the upcoming weeks, and I realized it was the “lull before the storm”. So, I put the pressure on myself to get as much done as I possibly could while I had time.

Here was my plan of attack:

After class I would review the matierial that was covered during that day so I didn’t fall behind in other classes. Then, I would cover 1-2 lectures of microbiology/immunology per day, so that by the weekend I would have gotten through all the lectures that would be on my exam, which is on Tuesday. Then, the weekend could be used for review, and preparing for my clinical medicine/diagnostic methods/clinical pharm exam on psychiatric disorders, which is on Friday. I was going to really focus this week; nose to the grind stone, hard core studying and no facebook.  Well, that sounds like a good plan, doesn’t it?

Here is what ACTUALLY happened:

Monday I got through one lecture from microbiology and did a little reviewing of other class material. Tuesday I got through 1 lecture of microbiology, then realized I was running out of clothes to wear and I hadn’t done laundry in 1 week, so I did that. Wednesday I was prepared to stay at the library all night long. I went to a study room with a friend and instead of being productive I spent time freaking out, feeling like I was never going to be caught up, I was never going to get through all of the material, and I was going to do horribly on all of the exams coming up, i miss my husband, i am tired, and…..DO I HAVE A PSYCH DISORDER?!? (studying psych really does this to you by the way)

Well, I ended up going home and sleeping, which I think was the thing I really needed. I realized that no matter how productive you want to be, sometimes you just have to stop and think about what your body needs and not try to force yourself through the material, because you won’t get anything out of it. We discussed Maslow’s heirarchy of needs in the psych unit, and I am a firm believer in this model! No wonder I couldn’t focus on studying, I was sleep-deprived and fun-deprived.

Since last week I have decided that every day I will do something for at least 30 minutes that has nothing to do with school and everything to do with fun. Here are some ideas I have had so far:

• rent a movie and watch it throughout the week
• go for a walk
• bake fall treats
• hang out with friends outside of school
• surf facebook
• take a nap
• go for a drive
• read the magezines that are piling up
• get a fruit smoothie
• download music

We’ll see how my focus and sanity changes with this approach, but I have a feeling that it will help. If you have found things that are relatively cheap and fun to do for a study break please share them!