preventing the burnout during PA school

[mhgutierrez02]

How to prevent burn out ?

 

Hey everyone ! hope your week is going great. 

This is a popular topic in any student -- the burn out. Sometimes we over do it and we exhaust ourselves. 

My biggest advise here is listen to your body-- your body knows when its tired, when it needs sleep, rest, food , a break. 

It took me a while to figure this out -- I thought I was superwoman and I could handle sleeping 2-3 hours , being in class all day, workout, study, and try to make time for my loved ones but realistically I couldn't. 

PA school ( nursing school , medical school, graduate school ) is very hard. And  in order to get through it you need to be rested and focused. 

I learned that staying up till 4 AM wasn't going to change my grade, realistically I'm not functioning at that time . Just because you are staring at a book and " reading " doesn't mean you are putting good quality studying .

I wrote about this earlier in my blog , it's all about quality of studying vs quantity of studying. So if you go to a coffee shop to study , its better if you are fully focused for 2 hours vs 8 hours of unfocused studying. 

I always knew when I was beginning to tire out, I would start looking at my phone, I would get a headache, I started getting interested of anything else around me except my books ! This is when I knew I needed to take a break to eat, nap, walk around, or even  call it a night .

You will see a huge deterioration in your grades, mental and physical health. 

These programs are challenging and they will test your abilities in every way possible.  I had plenty of mental breakdowns and it was all part of the process, sometimes it will feel impossible-- how in the world are you going to study for 8 exams, prepare a note, study for lab, and sleep, eat ,rest and in one day. 

ORGANIZATION and planning is key. 

take it one day at a time, make sure you are focused in and out of the classroom if you can see you aren't fully focused take a break. Listen to your body always.

And always remember you can do it ! Keep telling yourself that every day, believe me you will get there , look at me Im 3 weeks away from my first day at work.

One day at a time, one step at a time. 

good luck ! 

Melissa Gutierrez- Perez MPAS , PA-C