I remember feeling incredibly anxious on the days leading up to my last exam. My next exam is not for another 2 weeks; however, I am currently feeling the pressure. This pressure to succeed is exacerbated by the fact that I have failed multiple exams in medical school. Although I did eventually become diagnosed with ADHD, I still can't help feeling like a failure and feeling sorry for myself. I am extremely hard on myself. I tear myself down, mentally. I perform negative self-talk all the time. In my mind, I see my thoughts as factual, logical, and grounded in truth. I am a stubborn individual; my opinions are difficult to change. It is difficult for me to believe when others have nice things to say about me. When I do believe these nice things, my mind immediately starts to enumerate why they might be lying, mistaken, misinformed, wrong.
Part of working on myself requires me to ackowledge that this thought process is erroneous. More practically speaking, this process is also unhelpful. I end up becoming paralyzed, restless, and unable to focus. To be practical, I must adopt actionable steps to help me. That's right! I aim to employ a top-down approach; the bottom-up approach hasn't been working, and I am finally ready to try something new. So here goes.
- Structure your time.
- Coordinate ahead of time.
- Set your phone away. Those texts are not urgent.
- Delete TikTok, spend less time on social media.
- Adopt hobbies; things you can enjoy aside from entertainment.
- Make a plan to exercise. Until you do, all you have are desires, not goals.
- Take. A. Breath. You can do this! :D
