Burnt Out/ Depressed....help!

[harkkam]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hi guys, I'm taking a Calc Course in the summer and next year is the most important year, its the year when i take three science classes together each semester to try and boost my GPA.

I just don't feel motivated anymore, to do anything, I know I should be studying but I dont, I just listen to music all day or go out and hang with my friends.

I have periods of extreme work and then periods of just me wanting to relax and not have any demands on my time..

Sometimes I just want to like quit academia all together and just become a cop perhaps.

what can i do to motivate myself

 

[Hyperstudyosis]

You probably need to take a break. Do you have any time after your calc class is over where you can just do nothing? Last summer I studied all summer (although I wasn't in classes) and by the time school started in the fall, I didn't want to study anymore and felt burnt out.

 

[Signaq]

Hi guys, I'm taking a Calc Course in the summer and next year is the most important year, its the year when i take three science classes together each semester to try and boost my GPA.

I just don't feel motivated anymore, to do anything, I know I should be studying but I dont, I just listen to music all day or go out and hang with my friends.

I have periods of extreme work and then periods of just me wanting to relax and not have any demands on my time..

Sometimes I just want to like quit academia all together and just become a cop perhaps.

what can i do to motivate myself

Why are you taking three science classes together as a method to boost your GPA? Perhaps taking one class per semester and using the free time to develop who you want to be as a person (a.k.a. mature). If all you know is academia and you're passively sabotaging that by goofing off to the extent you report, then maybe a break or slow down is indicated so you don't ultimately crash and burn.

 

[neuro1986]

I think that if you do not get sufficient rest prior to starting next year, your plan of boosting your gpa might not go as well as you want it to...and once you have fallen behind in a few courses, you will be playing catch up for a long time.

My suggestions are:

1) if your course does end with enough time for you to get away, try to do things that completely distract you-go places, visit people, and engage in activities that have traditionally given you a significant amount of pleasure. If this means changing up the settings that have caused you to feel down, then try doing that! - if you need to do this NOW before you can get through your calc course, then do what you can to get away and reward yourself for pushing through the frustrations- and then remember how good it felt when you look forward to rewarding yourself again before the fall semester starts.

2) make sure you have people you can talk to. family, friends, a therapist?
I think every pre-med and med student probably could benefit from informal (of course, friends and family) & formal therapy (psychiatry, psychotherapy, etc. -whatever works for you).
- anti-depressants can be wonderful if you genuinely feel as if you meet the clinical diagnosis for depression and would benefit from this option.

3) I am not sure if this would work for people outside of me, but I have often put up calendars that my measure my success/track my progress and remind me of how each little step is bringing me closer to my goals. it makes me feel better that I can be regularly reminded that getting to med school is within my reach-even if I have to go through periods are chaotic, tortuous, and sometimes seemingly inescapable!

Btw, I am in the same situation as you 🙂 However, the course that is getting me down is histology and I am going into the sort of year you are (I jumped into histology without the prereqs because it seemed so exciting at the time).

Allow yourself to be silly and laugh and joke as often as possible. Taking oneself too seriously (for good reasons, getting into med school is one huge accomplishment and tough road)- can have very devastating consequences- immediately and long term. we need to find ways to play more. when playfulness can spill over from our non- school lives into our school lives, then a significant step has been made.

I hope you can find a way to do what it takes to get yourself to where you need to be to reach your goals and feel good about the journey🙂!


K

 

[harkkam]

I just don't feel motivated anymore though. I just want to quit and start my life because I'm tired of watching it pass me by.

Honestly the money and success are a big motivator, helping people, is just a term people throw around because there are so many ways that one can help people and doctor is just one of them.

I don't want to waste anymore time, how do I know when its time to quit and and perhaps pre-med is not for me.

I've tried breaks and vacations, I get plenty of time outs and fun times, I just never want it to end. I feel like when I study my life is rotting away toward this pie in the sky goal that will never materialize or only very later in life.

 

[neuro1986]

I think that if you do not get sufficient rest prior to starting next year, your plan of boosting your gpa might not go as well as you want it to...and once you have fallen behind in a few courses, you will be playing catch up for a long time.

My suggestions are:

1) if your course does end with enough time for you to get away, try to do things that completely distract you-go places, visit people, and engage in activities that have traditionally given you a significant amount of pleasure. If this means changing up the settings that have caused you to feel down, then try doing that! - if you need to do this NOW before you can get through your calc course, then do what you can to get away and reward yourself for pushing through the frustrations- and then remember how good it felt when you look forward to rewarding yourself again before the fall semester starts.

2) make sure you have people you can talk to. family, friends, a therapist?
I think every pre-med and med student probably could benefit from informal (of course, friends and family) & formal therapy (psychiatry, psychotherapy, etc. -whatever works for you).
- anti-depressants can be wonderful if you genuinely feel as if you meet the clinical diagnosis for depression and would benefit from this option.

3) I am not sure if this would work for people outside of me, but I have often put up calendars that my measure my success/track my progress and remind me of how each little step is bringing me closer to my goals. it makes me feel better that I can be regularly reminded that getting to med school is within my reach-even if I have to go through periods are chaotic, tortuous, and sometimes seemingly inescapable!

Btw, I am in the same situation as you 🙂 However, the course that is getting me down is histology and I am going into the sort of year you are (I jumped into histology without the prereqs because it seemed so exciting at the time).

Allow yourself to be silly and laugh and joke as often as possible. Taking oneself too seriously (for good reasons, getting into med school is one huge accomplishment and tough road)- can have very devastating consequences- immediately and long term. we need to find ways to play more. when playfulness can spill over from our non- school lives into our school lives, then a significant step has been made.

I hope you can find a way to do what it takes to get yourself to where you need to be to reach your goals and feel good about the journey🙂!


K

 

[Monk11]

I just don't feel motivated anymore though. I just want to quit and start my life because I'm tired of watching it pass me by.

Honestly the money and success are a big motivator, helping people, is just a term people throw around because there are so many ways that one can help people and doctor is just one of them.

I don't want to waste anymore time, how do I know when its time to quit and and perhaps pre-med is not for me.

I've tried breaks and vacations, I get plenty of time outs and fun times, I just never want it to end. I feel like when I study my life is rotting away toward this pie in the sky goal that will never materialize or only very later in life.

Go to your doctor!! What you are feeling is not unusual but it needs to be at the very least recognized by a professional.

Irrelevant note: I saw an article the other day about depression and how those least willing to give up their lofty goals are more prone to depression. There must be a lot of depressed pre-meds out there.

 

[Global Warming]

Were you a gunner in high school?

I was the opposite of gunner and never even went to class. I personally wanted to stop being a loser and start doing something EPIC with my life. This serves as motivation for me!

It really depends on your attitude...everything starts with the right attitude. You may think of studying as wasted time to achieve the letter grade of an A. However, you could also think of studying as a privilege that allows you to be soooooo much more knowledgeable. Just yesterday, I was looking at my 4 pre-req books and was just shocked at how much I have been through. I feel such a sense of pride to know that I pushed through those hard times and was successful at the end of the ordeal. Now I am eagered to begin studying for the MCAT and hopefully doing well!

What does medicine mean to you?

It means the world to me...I really have nothing else going for me. Suuuuuure I could go out and meet girls, drink, have "fun", but you slowly realize that those things (although fun) aren't meaningful and fulfilling. I personally do not know anybody that is a doctor, so it will be a major step for my family. If you knew me in real life, you'd realize that I am the toughest/most macho man out there. However, I know I will burst with emotion when I recieve that first acceptance....my family will know that all of my hard work has finally paid off. To think, my parents arrived to this country with $100 in their pocket....it is amazing the things we can accomplish if we are willing to make the sacrifice.

I hope this helps! 👍

 

[harkkam]

Well, yeah...I don't if I'll ever be motivated enough to work hard anymore. Its so low right now, I just feel like running outside and just like jogging till I cant run anymore.

I've talked to people, professional people and they dont really help and just sit there and listen to you complain.

I need some direction.

Should I quit or not? I don't want to, I want to continue but there is no spirit or motivation left in me. And nothing seems to be filling it up

 

[ilovebiology]

Hmmm...look back at why you wanted to go into medicine in the first place? Were there some significant reasons and was there a sincere passion? Also how far along are you in your courses because that could make a huge difference in this answer...if you are pretty far, as in you've taken and survived ochem (haha sorry thats my determining point if I think someone is going to make it) and are studying for the MCAT then ya, I think you should stick with it because you obviously wouldn't have stuck it out this long if you really didn't care and want to do it, ya know? However, if you aren't that far in your schooling and are already thinking that you aren't cut out for it, maybe you aren't? Looks like you're going to need to do some soul searching and find out what you want in life before you make this huge commitment and continue on with it. Sorry to hear you're frustrations...I think we've all been there buddy. 🙂

 

[Excelsius]

Well, yeah...I don't if I'll ever be motivated enough to work hard anymore. Its so low right now, I just feel like running outside and just like jogging till I cant run anymore.

I've talked to people, professional people and they dont really help and just sit there and listen to you complain.

I need some direction.

Should I quit or not? I don't want to, I want to continue but there is no spirit or motivation left in me. And nothing seems to be filling it up

You said yourself that you don't want to quit. You shouldn't then.

Just ask yourself - what is the problem? If you're burnt down, then cool down. Don't add extra classes and burn the ashes. If it is instant gratification you are after, convince yourself that medicine is not that path and everyone here takes a lot of time to prepare for the path. Very few great careers out there provide the instant gratification.

You can also look at it this way: would you rather have a vacation now and delay your life further or put everything you got into a concentrated study schedule, finish up, and then take a vacation? I have decided that I am not going to take any vacations until I get what I need. At the same time, you do need an outlet. You can't spend all your time studying. Having a gf with whom you can spend some great time over the weekends can help a lot. You can also travel to watering holes on some weekends or hike. It helps if the subjects that you are studying actually interest you. If they don't, then why are you taking them? I am sure that by now you are done with all your prereqs.

 

[smarttee88]

Well, yeah...I don't if I'll ever be motivated enough to work hard anymore. Its so low right now, I just feel like running outside and just like jogging till I cant run anymore.

I've talked to people, professional people and they dont really help and just sit there and listen to you complain.

I need some direction.

Should I quit or not? I don't want to, I want to continue but there is no spirit or motivation left in me. And nothing seems to be filling it up

It sounds to me like you need a break. A REAL break. Take some time away from school to go live life a little and really figure out what it is you want to do with your life. Taking a break from school will take a huge weight off your shoulders and allow you to think much more clearly about what it is that you want to do. Personally if I had gone to college fresh out of high school i would not have been very successful as I would not have had as much life experience as I now do.

 

[Red1263]

Well have you actually tried running until you're pooped out?

Lol, not to sound insulting, or anything, but I'm guessing that all this is like a form of exercise, after training, the body needs to rest, so you've trained your mind until it feels like it can't take anymore, so you need to do something relaxing, rather than go out to have fun, try taking a long bath, or simply go somewhere where Time almost seems to stand still, I personally go hiking and then look out at the city, and simply think of how useless books and pencils and grades are while I'm up there.

So my advice is this, find some place to take you outside of this life, (temporarily, of course) just long enough to almost forget it, lol and then take a deep breath, and dive back in there head first!

 

[neuro1986]

try something new for a while. perhaps spend the next year exploring something else that has inspired you, that you have been passionate about, and interested in realizing its potential in your life. maybe you need to make sure that medicine is right for you by eliminating possible alternatives. maybe this elimination process just requires a period (without exact deadlines) of you listening to yourself and following your hopes and desires where they take you- pursuing a rigid very specific path towards an inflexible goal will not allow for this. You don't want to always be asking yourself whether or not this is the right path for you- its kind of like being in a long term relationship and wondering whether or not marriage is the right answer having never dated someone else...if you don't explore your options now, you might stray from the path at a time when there are many more consequences.

on the other hand, there are good and bad therapists. if you are committed to improving your mood and stabilizing yourself on the pre-med pursuit now, consider exploring different therapy options and therapists .. in fact, the right therapist can make a considerable difference and might restore your interest in its role in your life.

 

[harkkam]

Yeah I take long breaks and hang with friends.

Had an A in Chem 1 and B+ in Chem 2
I got a C+ in Ochem I and a B+ in Ochem 2, Im a chem major taking Advanced inorganic chemistry, calc 2, and physics with cal 1 next semester.

My gpa is a 3.1. Not good hoping to boost it to 3.3 with this year

I was unhappy with my C+ in Ochem 1, and I enjoy chemistry very much.

The problem is that my studies take up so much of my time that I have very little time left of anything else and all of life's little pleasures.

When I take those breaks and go places where my school and grades feel so irrelevant and I feel FREE i can breathe again almost.

But its the getting back into the studying thats hard for me, I just cant get myself to get up and sit in front of the books. Even though I enjoy what Im reading and learning.

I know that I've spent so much time studying or having the pressure to study and I just imagine having a 9-5 and coming home and going to the beach on a random Wednesday evening or hitting the club.

As a pre-med student, your free time is always in question either getting pushed back for a test or something you have to do that pops up, a lab you forgot you had due. You can't just walk out of the door at 6pm and do w/e you want.

 

[harkkam]

bump

 

[VanBrown]

I ran into this problem when I was an undergraduate. I started volunteering at a hospital and spent a lot of time in the onc ward of the children's hospital. That was more than enough motivation for me to keep working my ass off.

You need to find a real tangible reason to keep pursuing your goal of a career in medicine. If you don't feel compelled then you need to look elsewhere.

 

[anchorless]

We seem to be in the same boat. I am also taking Calc 1 right now and working and volunteering. I also have 3 science classes next semester. I am feeling the same burn out except I don't go out with friends, just sleep or force myself to study. For me its like an extreme fatigue...I am taking some time off before school starts for the Fall term. Too much pressure to get that GPA up...Try to take a deep breath and find one thing you can do for yourself each day.