Days 7 and 8 - Meds Yoga and Multi-Tasking

Day 7

I fully expect Olga to tell me I've spelled this wrong.

Soon after I started medical school, I discovered that medicine has an exclusive club, community, or team for just about anything your heart desires. I'm not sure if it stems from some inherent insecurity, from self-flattery regarding our exclusivity, or from a genuine desire to build a supportive community, but I've always disliked the exclusivity and found it off-putting. I often told my ex that I worried that "when I grew up" all my friends would be physicians.

Here's an irrelevant photo of my Greek homework, included here only because I also had a Greek lesson on Day 7. Can you spot the mistakes?

About a year into medical school, I realised that I was pretty isolated from my classmates - I spent time with my then-boyfriend or went home to Toronto to socialise, spent time with friends from synchro when I was in Kingston, and was generally unbecomingly snobby when it came to attending med events or joining med teams. My one concession had been joining the med school choir; at least it welcomed 'friends of medicine', I figured. I bit the bullet in second year and did two things - first, I signed up for a medicine in literature elective organised and run by a pretty spectacular friend of mine, an excellent writer, and an incomparable professor. Second, I signed up for a meds yoga class, run by Dallas at Studio 330. Both of these classes ended up enriching my experience in med school and significantly reducing my self-imposed isolation. There is just something really nice about spending time with programme-mates outside of an educational or clinical environment. It gave me the chance to discover that they are real, multidimensional people with real interests and opinions. And I really like them. Who knew?

I signed up for meds yoga again this past term, again at Studio 330, but this time led by Jen. For everyone watching at home (is anyone watching at home?), yes, 330 is the studio I was terrified to go to by myself last week. Yes, I have been going to it every week for the entire term. And for another term before that. It's just...different going alone, alright?

Cats are naturals at yoga, but even more exclusive than med students.

Sunday, Day 7, was the final day for meds yoga this term, and I realised with some sadness that it may have been my final meds yoga class. I'll be spending two months in the next term on elective in Toronto (can't wait to be home!), Vancouver, and Halifax. It won't make sense to sign up for meds yoga when I know I'll miss at least 8 classes. It was a bittersweet moment, when I realised that from my mat - bitter because I'll miss the camaraderie of meds yoga and those peaceful moments on the mat with my programme-mates (and also because I dislocated my shoulder during a twisted triangle after a long run of no dislocations), and sweet because...well, because I have yet to experience a 330 yoga class that's not pretty sweet.

Day 8

Today was certainly less interesting. It was all about just gittin' 'er done. I am studying for the psychiatry NBME, which I'm writing this Friday, so I grabbed Case Files: Psychiatry, my recently very battered looking running shoes, and my Goodlife card, and spent just over half an hour on a stationary bike studying. I sweat a bit, but I'm looking forward to a non-multi-tasking workout tomorrow if I can swing it.

Multitasking: It just ain't pretty.