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PrepMatch

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Burnout is increasingly common among professionals. Mindfulness is one strategy that is used to cope with burnout and as a preventative mechanism. Mindfulness focuses on letting go of thoughts and focusing on one's senses and surroundings.​

  1. Often, individuals show skepticism about starting mindfulness. Why do you think that is the case?
  2. How do you think mindfulness can help prevent burnout?
  3. Reflect on a time when you felt stress and what you did to cope with it.
Discuss Below !!

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  1. I believe that one reason may be due to medicalization of society. I understand that burnout can be really devastating for many and can affect people’s goals in life and their career performance as well as their mental health. Therefore, something as non-medical and simple as mindfulness helping with burnout may be unbelievable to some. Some may believe they may need medication for such issue. Moreover, perhaps many do not know how to be mindful. I believe it is a skill that may needs to be learned in this life in which competition and reaching to the top of the corporate ladder is a goal for many. Therefore, mindfulness may not have been performed and done correctly or enough for people to notice an affect or one may not know how ot do it. As a result, they may be skeptical about starting mindfulness.
  2. I believe that it allows one to be present in the moment. I believe that burnout can happen when trying to reach a goal and working hard to reach that goal. That goal, at the moment, may seem very far in the future and, as a result, many may always be present on the future, such as preparing fro the next step in their job or seeing how they can get a promotion. I believe mindfulness allows one to take a step back and look into the present situation adn appreciate what is going on now in the present. This, as a result, may be relaxing to some and help relieve burnout.
  3. I believe that I was really stressed during my time studying for the MCAT. I knew it was a test that would play a larger role in my medical school application. As a result, it caused me a lot of stress to study for such a large exam that requires a lot of information knowledge as well as doing school. I was feeling burntout and it was affecting my studying. I was determined to atleast 1 hour a day do something relaxing whether it was painting or lifting weights. By doing this, it let me focus on the present and relax and not worry for the MCAT. If elt refreshed after and it helped me focus studying more.

(Ignore grammar/spellign mistakes as this does not affect CASPER scoring)
 
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