Soooooo I forgot to add times to these as I was resizing them and now I'm feeling too lazy to go back and re-do it. So. It is what it is.
This is kind of a tricky "day in the life" edition as my study process has evolved in a few parts over the past few weeks, and as such you're getting a snapshot of one particular phase of that time period. After a take Step 1 (ON TUESDAY OMGGGG) I'm planning to put together a lengthier post on what all I've been doing in more detail, but for now here's a very concise overview:
- Doctors in Training online course
- Annotating DIT notes into First Aid
- Reviewing First Aid and Pathoma with a particular focus on the areas where I know I'm weak
All sprinkled with a healthy dose of UWorld questions, of course.
So. This particular day happened to be the last day of Phase 2. Super exciting stuff, right?
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Good morning world! My sleep schedule has been all kinds of wacky lately, largely thanks to stress, but I'm still putting in effort to wake up decently and consistently early every day to get a jump on things. I drag myself out of bed and do the whole brush-my-teeth-put-in-contacts-take-my-allergy-meds standard morning routine. I also usually take 15-20 minutes or so to look at social media stuff and check for a few early morning blog posts before making myself do anything resembling actual work.
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I decide to kick off this lovely Wednesday morning by doing a UWorld assessment test. Ick.
UWorld is kind of the literal worst because so many of the questions focus on tiny, seemingly nitpicky things that have been addressed by neither my classes nor First Aid, so question blocks are always so much fun to do.
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Midday break! Since completing the 7 Day Body Blast earlier in May I haven't been keeping up with barre with any sort of regularity, as it takes a lot to get me to leave my apartment currently. Today, however, I'm feeling a bit extra restless, so I pull on some colorful stretchy pants and drive across town to go clear my head for an hour. I had such good intentions of working out more regularly during this study period, as it really does go a long way to help my mental state, but unfortunately anxiety over "wasting" time routinely won out over any desire to do anything resembling moving. So.
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I heat up some leftovers from dinner the night before [Dr. Boyfriend and I went out for a quick-ish dinner at Mirko] and watch a couple of videos on YouTube while I eat. I like to use mealtimes as a little break during the day during which I do things that are completely frivolous and unrelated to school.
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I do a block of UWorld questions while testing out a Sephora face mask, because why not? I've decided I'm not really that big on sheet masks, but I received a few as part of Dirty Santa Christmas present at Liesel's party this year, so I'm making myself use them up.
Also, yes, I'm putting this photo up on the internet. God help me.
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Finally showered and dressed for the rest of the afternoon! I don't know why, but I'm really not big on jumping in the shower as soon as I get done with a workout. I guess I need time to relax and unwind a bit, or something, before moving on with my day?
Anyway. I'm also a big believer in putting on actual clothes every day, even when I'm spending all of my time sitting at my desk. It's partly a mental thing, and partly the fact that I just really like clothes. I also tend to get bored and put on lipstick at least during the day, usually as a result of me getting up to wander around my apartment, spotting a lip product sitting around somewhere, and thinking to myself OOH THAT COLOR IS PRETTY. Then, often, later on I'll get tired of the first color and find a new one and thus repeat the whole process. Obviously I'm not great at staying focused while studying.
Anyway, I also take some time to do real life things, like laundry and dishes, and I take a few minutes to finally re-hang my tissue paper garland in my bedroom...two months after moving.
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Snapshot of my work station during the afternoon. I'm in the mood for music with words, so I listen to Taylor Swift for a while - something about her music always puts me in a GSD kind of mood. This just so happens to be the DIT lecture on seizures, for anyone interested. I have the DIT workbook open on my desk and my DIT notebook on my laptop [not currently visible, because iTunes is in the forefront for whatever reason]. I'm comparing the page in First Aid on seizure drugs to my other notes on the topic, and copying over any extra information that I deem pertinent and useful.
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Clik here to view.
Dinner break! Since Dr. Boyfriend hasn't had any actual work to do since, like, March, he's been super kind and helpful with regards to all of this Step 1 craziness by taking over pretty much all food-related duties. He plans meals for the week, he grocery shops, and he prepares the food [almost] all on his own because he wants me to be able to focus on studying and doing work. Our routine lately involves watching two episodes of Friends on Netflix so we have some downtime together to relax and hang out before I get back to working.. and he goes back to doing nothing. Sigh. Plus, Colby hasn't seen most of Friends before so it's kind of a treat to watch him watch the series for the first time. It's easy to forget how funny it is when you've seen all the episodes too many times to count.
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More work, this time on the respiratory section. I've switched to one of my instrumental Pandora stations for background music, and I've got my DIT notebook in OneNote pulled up on my iPad instead just to change things up a bit.
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The dress pants that I recently ordered to burn off some Kohl's Cash were delivered today, so I take a few minutes to try them on late at night - because why not. Gotta love having a waist and hips that are two very different sizes, right?
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Teeth are brushed, pajamas are on, and I'm tucked away in bed doing more UWorld questions. I've been really struggling with falling asleep at night thanks to exam anxiety, so I've been keeping myself up later doing questions and such as a means of trying to lure myself to sleep - as nonsensical as that sounds. I've also been reading When Breath Becomes Air some nights, but the story is too interesting - I guess? I can't find the adjective I want to use here - to be effective at helping me fall asleep so I've kind of cut myself off for the time being.
Suffice it to say, life sucks right now. I'm so appreciative of the fact that my school gives us a solid four or five weeks off to study for Step 1, but I'm ready to go back to having a regular schedule again.