Finding Balance: Practice-based & Life-long Learning

As tempting as it is to want to talk about the Quality Improvement project our group designed in tackling health literacy regarding chronic medications in the population of patients with congestive heart failure, I believe this story is likely best served talking about my own journey in striving to strike that perfect work-life balance.

Continually throughout medical school, I felt like I was walking the knifeā€™s edge in attempting to perform well academically but also in attempting to avoid burnout. While the strategies I had employed in my first two years of medical school worked well in achieving that balance, it all came to a head in my clinical years. No longer in charge of my day-to-day schedule, maintaining flexibility for the research and leisurely activities discussed in my other stories became difficult and I was feeling more and more stretched thin. Attempting to juggle my social life and activities to stay healthy with the new demands of attempting to improve my clinical skills while continuing to develop a deep pool of clinical knowledge, it was no surprised that I began feeling burnt out.

Early feedback showing difficulty with presentations due to performance anxiety

Perhaps most interestingly, despite the symptoms and effects of said burnout being painfully obvious in hindsight, there was quite a period of time for me to both acknowledge these changes and to develop a plan to fix them. Speaking with my longitudinal portfolio coach for advice, we developed a new plan of action to consolidate many of these differing activities. In addition to developing a stronger focus on a few research projects rather than trying to juggle all of them simultaneously, I began taking a different approach to being more efficient with my time. I began using cooking as a way of relaxing and staying healthier in eating out less. Learning about new cuisines and cooking techniques became a great way of staying engaged with something outside of medicine and provided an excellent chance to hang out with friends and cook together.

Cooking Thai Chicken with friends for the first time.

Cross section of poached egg breakfast sandwich rather than stopping by McDonalds.

As a way of socializing and getting exercise, I also began taking beginner hip-hop dance classes with friends on weekends. More than a way of simply getting out of the house, the dance classes also had another purpose. As touched upon in my other stories, patient presentations were a difficult skill for me to develop. A combination of having a free-flowing thought process as well as stage fright made it common for me to get flustered and disorganized in my train of thought, especially when all eyes were on me. Making sure to participate at the end of dance classes where we broke into groups and went through the performance in front of the classroom, I gradually became accustomed to having eyes on myself a grew more comfortable with my performance anxiety.

Feedback for rotation following starting the dance classes and showing improvement in patient presentations

 

In many ways, although my pursuit of life-long learning will largely take part in medicine, I wanted to take the time to highlight aspects outside of the medical field that I feel like I have developed in through my time in medical school. More than the pursuit of clinical knowledge, one of the most important keys in my opinion to a life-long career of learning is also striking that perfect work-life balance, affording you the opportunity to continue growing while remaining engaged and excited to see and learn new things.

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