Need to get off of my lazy ... ...

[SaltySqueegee]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I was wondering if there was anyone out there like me who has had a hell of a time motivating themselves to start their secondaries.

I have been working full time this Summer, part time research, and have a full time GF 😉 . I feel as though my energy is zapped all of the time. After a full load of classes last semester (22units) with very little sleep and busting my butt to submit my primary amcas on june 3rd, I feel as though I am falling behind a bit. Every night I go to bed, promising myself that I will wake up early and work on my secondaries for a couple of hours; at the least. But to no avail, I end up sleeping until there is only enough time to get dressed and go to work in the morning. (repeat ad nauseum [sp?])

Do you guys/gals feel as burnt out as I am. I used to be able to tell my body what to do, but I think the last four years of undergrad has finally caught up with me.

Is there any way I can get back to the old insanely energetic me??? Should I consider taking amphetamines??? 🙄 I drink two small cups of coffee a day; should I consider dropping the caffiene, possibly increase it??? When I was exercising in my freshman year, it made me more tired than I was without exercise???

Possibly Chronic Fatigue???

Please Help. Summer is coming to a close soon, and I would like to have a plan to get going instead of the ol' , procrastinating last minute crap.

Your suggestions would be helpful.

Thank you SDN community.

 

[Grumpy Bear]

MDTom,
Oh man, I know exactly where you're coming from. I've been sitting on my secondaries for weeks, and haven't gotten past brainstorming on most of them. I've always been a bit of a procrastinator, but the combination of work, my bf staying at my place for the summer, and the general lack of hard deadlines is really interfering with my motivation. Maybe we could help motivate each other? Perhaps encourage each other, have someone to brag to when an essay gets finished, and maybe check up on each other a bit. I mean, I hate being nagged, but maybe if i'm the one to have solicited it... :-D What secondaries are you working on? Maybe getting a couple of easy ones tucked away would help you feel energized? Anyway, it's nice to commisserate.
--Grumps

 

[duncanfj]

Picture not being in med school next year. That should do the trick. I work in a research lab 50hrs a week, volunteer, have a house, and married for almost a year. The thought of not being in med school next year motivates me very, very well.

 

[SaltySqueegee]

Picture not being in med school next year. That should do the trick. I work in a research lab 50hrs a week, volunteer, have a house, and married for almost a year. The thought of not being in med school next year motivates me very, very well.

Easier said then done. I used to be able to "Just Do It", and I remember a time when i would tell other people the same. However, I literally feel mentally and physically exhausted, to the point where I almost fall a sleep on the way home from work, and I'm the one driving!!! 😱

Are there any suggestions for life style changes??? Diet, habit... etc. At least until my brain kicks back into the "Just Do It" mode.

As a side note, this is definately not a case of, "Well... I wonder if he really wants to be a Doctor???" No no no... I'm just really tired.

And yes, on top of my 40hour work week, my 6pm to 10pm research job zaps the rest of my energy with my 8am to 5pm stint in the local ER on Saturdays leaving my Sundays to veg with my GF. So, I am motivated, in more ways than one. I just feel really tired.

Thank you all for your suggestions,

 

[....]

try some ephedrine

 

[SaltySqueegee]

Originally posted by hightrump
try some ephedrine

hmmm.... no offense, but can I have some more suggestions please???

🙄

 

[lisa13579]

You sound like me, the typical "I love/need to be busy" type of person. As much as I hate to have nothing "productive" to do, I realize that sometimes I take on too much. Sound familiar. Maybe quit the volunteering or spend less time in research (if that's even possible). At least if you weren't doing the volunteering you would have full weekends off to look forward to. I'm sure admissions committees will realize you were too busy to do EVERYTHING!

 

[MDmiracle]

it's one of those things that you have to make yourself do. Try maybe staying up later and working on them rather than trying to roll out of bed early. I work two jobs 65+ hours per week, married, 3 kids So I know how you feel. Good Luck.

 

[SaltySqueegee]

Thank you all for your suggestions,

</Start sarcasm>

I will start taking ephedrine, staying up late and quitting my other activities. 😉

</End sarcasm>

No, but really thank you. The part that sucks is that I have a publication on the way, so you can understand the research obligations. As for the saturday stints... I suppose I could call in "sick". (more like sick in the head ) As for work, I'm sure you can all relate to uber credit card debt from college life 😉 . Go figure.

hmmm... ephedrine??? ( 😱 me late at night hopped up on ephedrine; I wonder what late night madness and rubbish I would write on my secondaries. But really folks, ephedrine??? Can't we do better.)

Keep the posts comin'

 

[lisa13579]

Don't you think the hospital would understand if you explained your situation and said you'd come back in an month (or however long you need). I'm sure they would.

As for working, I understand completely... I use EVERY lunch period to work on my applications, sad, but true. I get a lot done though.

 

[lisa13579]

oops.. "an" month..... great grammer!

 

[SaltySqueegee]

Maybe I could spend the time I'm using on the SDN forums to do more productive things... such as my applications.... 😉

 

[superk0725]

You can tell your girlfriend to help you out. I am sure she would understand if you spent less time with her a couple Sundays. Or she could give you some "rewards" for every application you finish.
But dont worry, you are not the only one waiting around on applications. If anything you are way ahead of the game already. I sat around on my AMCAS application for 8 weeks until i finally sent it in a couple weeks ago. So you dont have to get too worried right now, just spend a couple hours every week and you are fine

 

[tBw]

part of the problem is that you view this as a long-term never ending situation. your mind and body just say 'enough'. however this is not a situation you will always be in and you have to internalize that thought. this is just a 'crisis' moment that will pass. you can internalize the idea that you just need to 'do it' and later relax if you stop thinking of this moment as just one long continuation of undergrad and actually schedule some vacation for yourself for some definite point in the future your mind may adjust to knowing a break is coming and just buckle down and do it now.

 

[lyragrl]

The other thing you could do is get yourself an editor for your secondary essays. (Maybe ask someone on SDN or your girlfriend or another friend.) That way, you tell your "editor" that you will deliver your essays for X school on Y date for review. Set up a series of external deadlines.

Also, this is just me, but I find that I write best in the mornings and maybe early afternoon. By five, I'm usually shot. (I write for living so I have to deliver stuff every day.)

So maybe reserve Sunday mornings (if you don't have religious obligations) for your writing time. Once the first drafts are done, things usually get much, much easier.

 

[kgal16]

try to make specific deadlines for each secondary or each essay
and force yourself to just stick with it

its obviously not as easy as it seems
as i have been sitting on U Chicago's application for what seems like forever

get the ones that don't have essays out first
just so that you are not bogged down by the sheer number of secondaries

i personally take comfort in the fact that i'm not the only one going through this miserable process
people have all done it in the past, and will continue to do so in the future
and i feel i'm just as competent as those people
so i will survive in the end

i just pray that i can get in to ONE SCHOOL
so that i dont have to go through this process next year

 

[SaltySqueegee]

Thank you all for your suggestions.

 

[citygirl]

I went through the same thing last year. Work, school, family, moving, buying a house, applying to medical school......all at the same time. I finally had to just schedule a day to get them done. Because I was neurotic enough to want to type my secondaries, I set up time to use a typewriter at work on a Sunday. It helped that I had to stick to that time for other reasons. As it turned out, my requests for secondaries came in two waves (small ones, that is) so I had to schedule another day to get the second bunch done.

As for the tired thing.....now I'm graduated, have officially put the three research projects to bed (i.e.: reached a good stopping point because research is never really done, is it?) and am just working full time all summer to try and get my finances together before med school. School starts in less than four weeks and I'm still recovering from the last year. Rather than getting jacked on ephedra or caffeine, try to get some really good sleep. I was so used to catnaps and four hour nights that it was hard to break the pattern. I finally started taking Benedryl at night to knock myself out. After about a week of nights with good sleep I'm starting to snap out of it.

Well, I hope you find this helpful.