Hello there,
It’s been a few days I know, since I’ve popped up in your inbox. I’ve been busy forcing myself to speed read one and a half year’s worth of study material in just under a month. The dreaded final exams that I was supposed to write in March of this year are going to make their arrival in September. I’m cramming way more information my brain can take in even less time, but at this point I have no other choice. Also, it’s been five months, almost half a year, since I started this newsletter. It hasn’t been easy writing every week, sometimes I question what comes out while I’m furiously typing on my Google Doc. Thank you for sticking around and lending an ear(or your eyes in this case) to the things I’ve put out on here :D.
As I’ve mentioned in the very first edition, I’ve been in limbo for as long as I can remember. I’ve had to focus on classes for the next year, while still having not written the previous year’s finals which made me feel split, one foot in and the other one out. Comprehending one separate year of med school is tough enough, but juggling two years? I don’t even want to think about it. Exams have been postponed way too many times, revision schedules altered beyond measure and my mind stretched way too thin. I wasn’t planning on actually writing something for this edition initially, but I haven’t been able to concentrate so well today. I read a few small chapters and figured that I’d direct my nervous energy elsewhere - into writing!
To ease into the groove, I commenced with the easiest and most logical subject of the lot - Forensic Medicine. It was my favourite class to listen to, as the professors would reference actual cases while teaching a concept, which made everything all the more stooping-off-the-edge-of-your-seat worthy. I’m onto Microbiology now, all about those itsy-bitsy organisms that you can’t see with your eyes, taking over the world by storm producing unimaginable diseases. I’ve looked back and thought about this numerous times - how can something so minuscule cause so much pain and suffering, bringing the whole world to a standstill? It’s futile.
I can’t describe how much there is to read, there’s absolutely no time to even think about the sheer amount to imbibe. My family suggests that I sleep with my books below my pillow, which I am actually considering adopting. I sit down with my books, skimming through the important questions and just moving on if I know that I won’t be able to recollect something because at the end of the day, time is of the essence. The only upside to this regime is that I can take a third cup of coffee and not be told off. I’m confident enough that I’ll be able to produce something on paper, and finally attain the closure that I’ve been waiting for for ages.
It took me a while to come to the understanding that knowing everything isn’t going to get you anywhere. It’s impossible to know every minute fact present in your textbook. It’s best to focus on the important aspects and clinical correlations - the ones which are actually going to matter in the future. Having made peace with this, I wish I could say things will become significantly easier, but I’m reiterating the fact that there’s an outrageous amount to read. I’ll have to bid you farewell for a few weeks, I can hear Staphylococcus aureus calling to me!
Links you’ll love
Trying to be a morally good person in the age of technology is challenging.
How to be better at parties(preparing you for the future I hope)!
Elemental Haiku, one for each element in the Periodic Table.
An interactive self care guide.
See you in a few weeks!
— adithi.
Yes, Adithi, some things never change. Way back, when I was a medical student like you (a loooong time ago, considering I was your mother's teacher) I remember experiencing the same sick-in-the-stomach sensation before the impending exams. Even then, when the "information explosion" was not even a concept, the amount in front of you, waiting to be absorbed, seemed gigantic in comparison to the available space between your two ears.
What impressed me then, and continues to even today, was the amount of stuff you could cram into short-term memory, 24 hours before the exam. And then, poof! -- it was all gone the evening after.
We freely acknowledge that this cram-fest is not the way to go for long-term success with storing useful knowledge. Only such pieces that are taken slowly, mulled over and stacked will be of lasting benefit. In this regard, I would like to recommend a book that I found to be of fantastic, practical value. I only wish I could have read it when I was your age rather than a few years ago, in my declining years. Here's the source:
Sönke Ahrens -- How to Take Smart Notes -- One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking – for Students, Academics and Nonfiction Book Writers.
It's available as a KIndle book. One specific tool that I would strongly endorse is Nicklas Luhmann's "zettelkasten". The book outlines the methodology and there are a ton of sources available when you Google the term. Luhmann was one of the most prolific thinkers and writers in his field. He attributes his success to the device and his life long use of it. Set one up for yourself, now. There are many apps -- Evernote, Notion, Bear (iOS) -- which make this task easy and amplify utility many times more that the hand-written variety.
Before signing out, I would also like to point you to a very recent venture of mine. You can see it at {P}rescription. It's a broad-based forum for professionals interested in healthcare delivery. Your generation is the one that has to come up with solutions for our seriously inadequate health system. Join up and tell your friends about it.
As you would have realised by now, retired old folks like to prattle. But, as your mother would endorse, nothing has given me more pleasure over the years than dealing with young people and their active, inquiring, iconoclastic minds.
May the Force be with you.
Arjun