When you're on a break, BE on a break!

Hey guys,

Well in light of the Thanksgiving holiday, I would like to comment on something that one of our professors said:

"When you are on a break don't do any studying or any homework. That's why it is called a break!"

You may be thinking to yourself, "Self, this should be an easy statement to honor since when in PA school you are constantly in go go go, study study study mode, and with out a doubt get extremely tired." However, I would like to respectfully disagree. Any of you who are currently in PA school or have been through PA school knows that whenever you get a 'break' from the 8-5 class time hours (weekends, holidays, time you should be sleeping, etc) you simply see it as more time to study and try to catch up on things that you have fallen behind in. To give an example: while I was in my undergrad I looked forward to weekends because it meant time to relax, sleep-in, spend time with friends, play disc-golf, go to party's, etc. Now in PA school I still get excited for the weekend, but not for anywhere near the same reasons. I get excited because I know that that will be two days that I can just study the whole time, without having to go to class and get more stuff added on. I don't sleep in on the weekend, I get up early so I can make it to the library when it opens and get my comfy spot and just grind it out! :-) Relaxation has become a foreign concept, and friends ... my friends are my classmates, period.

While I was preparing for school a friend of mine (now a 2nd year at my school's program) told me to make sure that I always make time for myself to relax and not study for at least a little while. He also said that I would actually do better in school if I did take breaks every now and then and just watched Family Guy, or did something totally not related to medicine. He suggested taking a night or so to do this. However, I find myself feeling guilty when I am not studying. I can be in a movie with my girlfriend, or just sitting at home on the computer (even when I am on here posting) and all I can think about is how I should probably be learning more about cardiomyopathies, or what specific treatment to start with in a patient with a history of CAD, smokes, is a male and is over the age of 55. It is really hard to pull myself away from study mode and just enjoy life outside of PA school (which I am slowly doubting exists :-D).

That all being said, I was honestly going to just sit at home (or the library) and just read/study the whole 'break' so I could get caught up on things. You see, our cardio module exam is coming up in about 2 wks and I still have a lot of other, what I like to call busy-work, things to complete that is due before the semester is done! Well, I called my mom and step-dad and told them that I probably was not going to go home from Thanksgiving this year because of all of that. They were both pretty bummed, but understood. My girlfriend was sitting on the couch with me while I was talking to my parents and listening to the convo. After I hung up the phone she looked at me and said, "You really should go home and take a break from studying for AT LEAST the day and see your family. You study way too much, and I can tell you need a break." My initial reaction was, "yea right .. there is no way I can go home right now." Well she insisted that I go home anyway, and that it would be good for me. Well, as much as the study-PAschool side of me was screaming NO!, the other 'normal' side of me was crying out YES!! So I chose to go home, which is where I am now.

The more and more I thought about going home, the more excited I got about the idea. Now that I am home, I gotta tell ya it feels pretty good to just relax for once. (Thanks girlfriend!) However, I have to be honest and say that I definitly have been feeling guilty about not studying, and have been planning out my game plan for the next few days after today, of which I will be studying. So even though I am not taking the whole time off, I am taking a break. Hopefully it will help me get recharged enough to get me through these next couple of weeks, and the polyexams that are ahead.

Well Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you have a great holiday and have a safe one as well! Hope you enjoyed yet another 'short' post, (I swear I am hopeless!!)

M-R

P.S. - As much as I have a hard time taking a break, trust me it is worth it, and I do believe that those that take breaks every now and again do better and stay more positive than those that do not. So take breaks, if you can fight through the guilt :-)