It's a Marathon, Not a Sprint

As my third year of medical school begins to end and I look forward to residency applications and Boards Step 2 (details to follow), I consider the mantra that I would proclaim to my classmates two years ago:

Medical School is  Marathon, not a Sprint!

It is a race of endurance and this has been proven by my third year, with 36-48 hr shifts, 2 days off a month, and over 1,000 pages to read per rotation. But these are the things that are expected. Here are some other challenges: going without clean underwear, use the hospital scrub service for your laundry service, have to make a decision between sleep and food, have to make a decision for your future, oh and you get two weeks, but most of all be prepared for a loneliness of the winter that will be your life.

I cannot imagine what it is like to go through it with a wife or family, but to go through as a single man there are days in which you talk to different types of people: medical professionals and patients. Vacations are wrought with studying for exams and career planning, and there is only one piece of advice to help you weather the storm of medical school:

"Brace Yourself"