Changes in Lifestyle

One of the things that I have always wanted to do was go hiking in West Virginia. West Virginia is known for its abundant natural beauty and I sure am not going to miss out on it. But, I am sad to say that despite having lived here for the past 5 months, I have yet to get outside of Morgantown and see any nature! Not even once. It’s not like me to stay in one place. When I was living in Japan I was sure to get out and sightsee at least once a month. Something about PA school seems to have sapped the energy, time or willpower out of me, and I think I know why.

Since getting into pathologists’ assistant school life has really revolved around studying and classes. It’s as if all of your energy is being spent on studying and there’s too little energy left to devote to other pursuits. I wouldn’t have expected anything less from graduate school, but it’s something that you have to experience to understand the transformation that takes place. Many of us in graduate school have been perfectionists for most of our lives and it’s one of the reasons why we were able to make it this far. But, considering the difficulty and volume of the material in PA school, being a perfectionist does not go without its consequences. Obviously, studying hard to learn medical related material and get passing grades takes significantly more time and effort than doing the same for your average general education undergraduate course.  But, for the perfectionist, the time and effort spent on school is so great that most everything else becomes an afterthought. 

On average, I’d say that I have about 45 minutes of free time to unwind at the end of the day before I go to sleep. The rest of the day is usually spent studying, listening to lectures in class, eating, showering, sleeping, keeping in contact with family and friends, etc…  At the end of a long day (and most days are long), I just want to relax or zone out zombie-style. I’m not thinking about what I’ll do on the weekend (mostly studying anyways). I’m not planning on any trips to see the countryside, nor am I thinking about hitting the theatres to see any movies with my buddies. For those precious 45 minutes, I’m just in zone out mode.

During their scant free-time some of my fellow classmates just zone out on the couch and watch TV. It seems that they too have not gone untouched by ‘graduate disease’, which I will now define as lethargy secondary to chronic studying, stress and malnutrition. I prefer to spend my zone out time spacing out on the internet, replying to friends via facebook and email and checking up on the latest news sites. 

So while my ambition to succeed in PA school is at higher levels now than ever, my ambition to find the time to do anything outside of that has dropped through the floor. My old hobbies, which included watching movies, astronomy, board games, biking, hiking, camping, photography, working out, practicing Japanese, target practice and reading novels have been pushed to the sidelines.  I’ve noticed another strange thing about this. The absence of these hobbies has actually diminished my desire to do them. 

For those of you who are perfectionists and are entering into PA school, you need to understand that your lifestyle will be transformed. Expect to lose many of your interests and hobbies outside of medicine. 

That reminds me, a long time ago I came across a very insightful saying. It goes along the lines of something like this:

There are three things that make up our lives.

-Family

-Career

-Hobbies and interests

You can choose any two.