this may sound like a silly question but I know ur super smart and I wanted to know how u keep it cool and collected while ur doing all ur work and are beyond stressed??
So I’ve been doing a rather rigorous premedical program since last fall, taking courses I deliberately avoided in college. Calculus, Statistics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Organic Chemistry.
When I first began the program, I would get the worst stress and nervousness. Especially during the days leading up to an exam. I’d be lucky to fall asleep before sunrise.
The brain and nervous system are forming habits all the time. They are often called neural pathways. Every neural pathway associates itself with a certain activity. The more that activity is engaged, the more well-worn the neural pathway becomes, and the more easily it fires.
So, for example, making a habit of being nervous and stressed is not just a mental block. It has physical roots in the brain and body.
Now the less you use a pathway, the less persistent those neuroimpulses will be. And obviously using a new pathway more and more will strengthen its activation. The brain’s ability to add, drop, and modify pathways is called neuroplasticity and it is happening all the time. The brain is continually adapting to the daily routine we put it through.
While we have SO many approaches to bodily and physical health, we have much fewer for mental and neural health. One of the scientifically verified methods for activating neuroplasticity in the brain is, you guessed it, meditation!
How to change these pathways? I used two tricks to do so: continuous observation and conscious interruption. I’ll explain them briefly.
Continuous observation means consciously focusing on the qualitative difference of frames of mind. For example, I noticed that leading up to an exam, I had insomnia, difficulty eating, I avoided certain things, and found myself with totally different attitudes toward things. The stress and anxiety changed my personality and state of being.
But the moment the exam was over, it all melted away. Aside from the unpleasantness of stress and anxiety, it has also been shown by research studies that such states actually prevent us from accessing our full spectrum of memory and temporarily lowers IQ. Therefore not only does being stressed suck but it also makes you less effective at whatever it is you are doing.
Time after time, I would observe this change. I would observe the buildup of stress and then the release after the object of the stress was no more. This experientially drove home an important piece of wisdom: This too shall pass.
It’s one thing to be told this. It’s another to go through it every month. In doing so, I acclimated to the cycle.
The other part was conscious interruption. This meant consciously stepping in an interrupting the habits that formed as a result of of the stress and anxiety.
When I caught myself tossing and turning in bed trying to solve impossible problems fused between physics and chemistry, I would get out of bed and sit for a meditation. When I noticed anxious thoughts turning over my mind on the subway, I would turn off my music and practice mindful breathing.
One of the most helpful techniques was tonglen, a meditation practice in which you inhale all the bad, painful, negative things, and exhale peace, love, and compassion. Whenever there was an atmosphere of fear, anxiety, or stress, I would practice tonglen for myself and for my student friends.
Over time, about a semester and a half, those habits of anxiety changed. Daily meditation coupled with my mounting academic experience in this program also made it an easier transition. But now I can focus on what I need to without getting caught up or confused by common obstacles about which others might waste time worrying.
Sometimes I still experience nerves or anxiety but it’s not enough to distract or confuse me. Gone are the sleepless nights and inability to eat. I’m sure going to medical school and beyond, there will but new challenges of stress and anxiety. I’ll meet them as they come and continue doing what works so that I may be as effective, insightful, and compassionate as I can while rising to the demands of societal living.
Namaste, my friend. Hope this helped!
turnnoffyourmind
theartofmadeline
tangentwithtanner
vaporwave
amandla
