The Study Game 👾

 One of my biggest challenges lately has been focusing for a long period of time. An interesting aspect I've been learning about myself lately is that my endurance and tolerance for discomfort tends to increase when I'm listening to music. I wanted to try and optimize for this characteristic by thinking about how I can use music to improve my exam performance. Today, I found myself listening to music as I was going over flashcards to study for a therapeutics exam that I have coming up next week. I found myself getting very tired in the late afternoon, but after throwing on my noise cancelling headphones and my favorite study music, the work felt like a breeze or at least I felt like I could go on for hours regardless of how much work I would need to put in. I'm even experimenting with music as I type out this blogpost. Hopefully you enjoy the rest of it! Mid-week Update:  I made a bit more progress as I spent time creating flashcards for my exam while listening to music and...

 It definitely is a lot different during these times of many online classes but that hasn't stopped medical/health related exams from being in person for me. In fact, they have actually offered a new challenge for me to try to be more efficient during my study time to get as much done as possible in such a short period of time. During these times for graduate students, I would definitely say that the level of independence and the high amount of stress placed on finding the sweet spot for focus, discipline, and adaptability has become of the utmost importance. As weeks have gone by since school started, I decided to run experiments to find how I truly study and memorize or at least optimize for studying better when I'm on my own. It can sometimes feel difficult to write out so much information by hand or create so many flashcards but I've found these challenging moments to honestly be of the most value. When I study, I do it with the intent of learning more about myself and ...

 As I have been working towards preserving my mental and physical energy, I soon realized just how difficult this can be especially when the school year and monotonous job duties seem to be slowly piling up. A lot of these mental challenges can be caused by the opinions of others. Believe it or not just about everyone has struggled with the fear of what others opinions are of them at some point. It is part of what makes us human and has also played a critical role in our survival. When you recognize that you're having a negative thought, you have essentially flipped a switch in your brain. A switch of realizing that you haven't been present with yourself and you've been essentially present somewhere else in a time and place that is non-existent. It is a place that contains all your fears and worries, you've been stuck in your own head for too long. Staying in that giant crainum all day can easily lead to not always the most positive but more often than not the most nega...

 An experiment I've been working on lately is nightly meditation before bed to reduce anxiety and allow for calm and relaxing dream states. I noticed that over the past few days I was finding myself waking up in the middle of the night due to anxieties and fear. I wanted to think of a way to mitigate these unhealthy moments because the number of hours we spend asleep are extremely valuable in order to optimize for morning productivity. I've found my level of workflow at night not as efficient as it is in the morning so getting better sleep is definitely a key towards success in order to truly have enough mind space for more worth while work. An important aspect of this method I noticed is already having a set morning routine that you find productive already in order to further increase your chances of success. If you need more information on that, please check one of my previous blog posts on morning routines. Meditation is extremely valuable. It is used by some of the top perf...

 An interesting twist definitely. I remember when I was a kid we use to do these things called "Elocutions" for poetry where we would act them out and I can recall one of my performances involved acting out how humans always wear masks. These ideas of humans being someone else at different times of the day or around different people and scenarios show just how adaptable humans truly are. Fast forward to the year 2020. We find humans now wearing masks as part of their daily attire. Never in my childhood would I have been ever able to fathom a time like this. Imagine someone teleporting to the future to find out that they had to wear a mask when going out and that social distancing was required everywhere that is public and gatherings are discouraged. They would probably want to leave asap. However, imagine how did the human race grow through that time. Imagine what will be written in history books of our people in overcoming these challenges. Not many people may want to believ...

  From the documentary, I learned that elderly native Hawaiians truly value preserving their culture which is shown through their land, children, music, and language. Although many are now mixed, I understand that elderly Hawaiians may still take pride in many of the traditional practices of their ancestors including the use of traditional healing or herbal medicines.   One of my peers proposed that it is important to analyze the old treatment (Hawaiian traditional medicine) and compare them with current medicines to ensure there wouldn’t be any interactions. An understanding of this can ensure the best quality of care for elderly Hawaiian patients. Another colleague of mine, Rebecca also proposed a fear of possible conflicts of care, since some elderly Hawaiians may not be very accustomed to modernization or may have negative views towards healthcare providers. I believe that it is still important to treat all patients with empathy and respect, regardless if a situation like ...

 The reality is that nothing in life is permanent. The friends you have, your home, your job. Situations and events will always arise pushing you out of your comfort zone to perform at a higher level than you were originally. What matters the most in these moments is how you allow these events to affect you. You may not like change but one thing I've learned after experiencing so much change especially with COVID is that at the end of the day. We will be okay and it's more important than ever to recognize the good things that are actually happening in our lives. Don't worry about tomorrow and letting that keep you up at night. Be present with yourself and your current environment. Don't fear change, face it head on. We can do our best to place our efforts towards change and even if that may fail that doesn't mean that our efforts were futile. Surprisingly, with effort comes learning and kudos to failure too because that is probably where most of it is born. Why fear...

 Here we are, the year 2020, a year full of the craziest moments in history and probably one of the most memorable parts of it would be the huge shift to online learning. The whole in-person to online learning occurred last year in March of 2019 for me. I still remember the semester was almost over and we were all enjoying spring break. I recall catching that new Sonic movie that came out with my friends for my birthday. The next thing I knew everything began closing heavily. Now, after another event filled summer, we are back to another new school year. A year many of the younger generation are calling "Zoom University." Reflecting on all of this, I feel like this may be they way things are going to be for a while now. Surprisingly this is my last school year for didactic lectures before I begin rounds in the hospital and retail setting so I'm trying to enjoy every moment of this and create as much random Zoom memes as possible to keep myself and others positive. Benefit...