Full Plate, but Dessert Before Dinner

So here I am with post-symposium guilt, feeling like I've eaten dessert before dinner. For a week, it was mainly symposium stuff, which was super fun because it was single-minded. And now I have to get back to all the other stuff. I just got off the phone with mom, who obviously had no idea what all this 'other stuff' was. In case you are similarly in the dark, let me show you:

2/1: Get last thesis comments, prepare for admissions, Admissions committee mtg 6-9 pm
2/2: Preceptorship 9-12 noon, Study for CS exam tomorrow, Pelvic Exam 5:30-7:30
2/3: Practice presentation for prof, 12 -1 pm, Clinical Skills Exam, 2-5 pm, Practice for prof, 5-6
2/4: Make changes and practice, Give practice presentation 12 noon, make final changes until 2 am
2/5: Symposium, 8-6 pm
2/6: Sleep till 1:30 (after going to bed at 10 pm) from exhaustion. Go to dinner and a party.
2/7: Paper on the Krebs cycle due; struggle to understand carbohydrate, fat, and fed/fasting metabolism all day long. Fail. Eat more cooked food (not cereal). Work on thesis revisions.
2/8: Class 8:30-12 noon. Sleep from 12 to 3:30 pm. Work on thesis revisions.
2/9: Preceptorship 8:30-1 pm

When you combine medical school, clinical skills, a thesis symposium, admissions, and an actual thesis...you have chaos in a jar.

Our professors like to tell us, "It's great practice for the real world!" Okay, first, this is the real world. It's not like the world gets more real as you progress from your twenties to your fifties. It gets harder, but hopefully you've spend the interim decades, you know, learning. Try telling a preschooler that writing cursive is easy, why don't they just do it already? And playground fights are very real when you are four.

I don't NEED practice for the REAL world. Okay? I'll deal with my career when I'm ready to be a physician. I don't need to PRACTICE being CRAZY. There's PLENTY of time for that LATER. And the world that we're living in is VERY real. Believe me, this kind of intricate chaos doesn't happen in dream states.

I mean honestly, has any physician ever said, "You know, my life is so crazy. I wish I had PRACTICED this earlier?" No, they wish they had spent more medical school weekends sleeping.