This week I wanted to talk about feeling overwhelmed with med school work and dealing with self-doubt and the so-called impostor syndrome
Tag: Anxiety
What’s YOUR Story?
These are strange and scary times indeed! Everywhere we look, every social media account, every Instagram post, every news article is centered on one thing and one thing only – Coronavirus. The impact that it is having across the world is mind-boggling to see, and the stories of the effects (and after-effects) it is having on a global scale is sometimes difficult to comprehend in its scope.
I would like to open this blog post up to anyone who reads –
I would love to know your story and how this has affected you and your family? Where in the world are you? How is your country handling the pandemic? How has it affected you personally? What are your daily lives like at the moment? What are your circumstances? What are you most worried about? What has been the hardest thing for you to deal with at this stage? How do you foresee the coming weeks and months?
Feel free to write as much as you’d like! Who knows – maybe we can gain hope or perspective from the life you’re living right now!
It’s the one great thing about the internet – it allows us to connect with people across the world and to hear and share their stories. I’ve certainly shared many of mine over the last couple years, and would love to know yours now!
Keep safe!
Wade
Med School Update – June 2019
It seems like it’s been ages since I sat down and wrote an actual piece for the blog! This week marked exactly 6 months since I started medical school, and it has been one hell of a crazy ride so far! I’ve had a week off now as we have just finished our 3rd block exams, and for the first time since I received my acceptance for GEMP in January I have been sitting and thinking about how much my life has changed in the space of just 6 months.
Things move so quickly that it’s easy to forget oneself, and to forget the big picture and how things are turning out. This year has gone by so fast and yet simultaneously so tiresomely slow at times with hundreds of hours spent sitting in the library over course packs, lecture notes, and text books. It feels like those 8 years of trying to get into GEMP (and the almost 16 years of wishing to become a doctor) have been erased in the blink of an eye, and the new rate of learning to become a doctor has equally become such a natural progression in my life. And that is CRAZY! It is literally my dreams coming true with every day that passes, and that was a dream that for so long seemed like an improbability! As things stand, in 3 and a half years I will be a doctor!!
Not Just Med School: Meaning and Mortality Musings
I don’t know if it’s just me, or if others think about it too, but I often find myself wondering about death and mortality. I know that sounds morbid and depressing, but it’s something I’m acutely aware of on a daily basis. It is our reality. It is inescapable.
A confluence of events in my late teenage years threw open my mind to the stark possibility that each new day brings with it the possibility that it may be our last on this earth.
“At the end of the day you’re another day older; one day closer to dying”
― Les Miserables
Hurry-up and Wait
I am not a fan of uncertainty. Particularly when it comes to life-altering decisions. Especially when it comes to waiting. Where I will live, where I will study, what I will earn, which student loans I need, and what I will be doing in two months’ time (and for the next 4- to 6 years) is completely uncertain at the moment.
Today I had a meeting at Wits University to discuss my application for the Graduate Entry Medical Program (GEMP). I wanted to find some pretence of certainty in what is a very uncertain situation.
I was hoping for clarification on when we will be informed of the outcome of our applications. I was hoping for some indication, positive or negative, on where my application ultimately stood. I was hoping for a realistic estimation of the chances of acceptance into next years program.
School Program with SADAG: Forest High
In one of my previous posts (School Program with SADAG) I mentioned that I had started a school and learning center program with the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG), whereby trained counsellors come to the schools and give presentations and advice on subjects such as depression, anxiety, suicide, substance abuse, and host of other mental health topics.
On Thursday 27 September, we had a presentation at Forest High School in the south of Johannesburg – here are some pics in a slideshow!
Application Update: UP
Sometimes I wonder if this medicine thing is ever going to work out. If I believed in signs, there’d certainly be a whole bunch just staring me right in the face. During my GEMP application process last year, there was a glitch on the system and some of my academic records were detected as missing. I had to re-submit hard copies in December, after some students had already received offers. I passed the WAPT but was put on a wait-list. I beat the composite index cut-off, but there were no spaces left for the program.
In applying to UKZN, I had to make use of the Central Applications Office (CAO) online platform; I’ve had to re-submit all documents multiple times as they do not register on their systems because I have more than one academic transcript (every time one is uploaded, it removes another). My application has been deemed incomplete multiple times.
This week, I received a message from the University of Pretoria to check my application status online, as I had received some feedback from the department. I felt excited and optimistic, and quite nervous! I logged on to the student portal, clicked on the notification, and read the following message:
I was honestly very confused, and I had to read the letter a couple times to make sure I was understanding correctly.
School Program with SADAG
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I studied psychology for my undergrad and completed my honours degree in psychology back in 2010.
One of my first volunteering experiences came as a consequence of these degrees – during the final year of my undergrad, a non-profit organization (NPO) called the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) presented a speech at one of our lectures, asking for potential volunteers. I signed up and underwent training to become a telephone counsellor. As a telephonic counsellor, we dealt with a variety of mental health queries – from simple referrals to suicidal callers. It was a humbling experience and it taught me how to confront and control my nerves, and how to better operate under stressful conditions. The client interaction was very rewarding.
As well as volunteering as a telephonic counsellor, I also participated in several educational presentations at various colleges, police stations, and mental health awareness events. I found these talks to be particularly helpful to the recipients; not only was a presentation given, brochures were handed out and there were also several counsellors on hand to answer any personal questions afterwards. These experiences taught me not just to listen to clients, but to actually hear what they are saying. They helped me realise how important compassion and empathy are, and the bigger impact that disease has beyond the individual.
My South African Medical School Journey 