Anxiety is a real thing and many premedical students struggle with this.  The interesting thing is that even the very best ones deal with this issue as well.  On a few occasions, I’ve personally received private messages from students on PreMed STAR letting me know that they’ve been visiting the site less because it makes them anxious about their own premed journey.  Every student that has sent me a message to that effect has subsequently been admitted to medical school.  That simple fact tells me that they unnecessarily put themselves through an unhealthy stress.  The journey to medical schools is very difficult and it is important that you learn to deal with anxiety right way.  I sometimes ask myself how these individuals would have handled it if they didn’t get accepted. Understanding that there are many more students who will send me such messages in the years to come, I deem it wise to address this topic now.  Here are five ways to deal with premed anxiety.  Disclaimer, I am NOT a psychiatrist, psychologist, or therapist.  This is not counsel, but rather my personal opinion for how I deal with such situations.

1. Remain in community with those who supported you along the way. One of the most dangerous things anyone can do when dealing with anxiety is to remove themselves from the community of individuals who support them.  When I was 16, one of my best friends committed suicide.  None of us knew he was dealing with such a situation.  For the time preceding this, we all spent a little less time with him than  At times I think back and ask myself what would have happened if we we’re still hanging out with him daily like we used to do prior to that summer.  Nothing had changed from a friendship standpoint.  We were all still best buddies and loved each other.  The tasks of Life just separated us a little.  I don’t know if anything would have been different, but I do believe that when stressors in life come, it’s best to stay involved with communities that support you and keep open lines of communication.
2. Don’t preoccupy your mind with the thing that makes you anxious. This is the reason that achieving item #1 above is difficult.  When we’re nervous, we try to avoid the issue that’s making us feel that way.  This is understandable.  I know the feeling of having butterflies in your stomach when facing challenges in life.  It’s not a good one!  In these situations, it’s important that we don’t preoccupy our minds with stressors.  However, it’s dangerous to completely avoid it (unless it’s something harmful).  When we avoid things in life based on fear, we give them power over us.  There’s a fine line between not preoccupying our minds and avoiding.  You’ll need to find that balance for yourself.
3. Empower yourself with knowledge. During my residency training, many of us then young doctors were intimidated by one clinical rotation which we all had to do, the Duke ICU rotation.  This was a grueling 6-8 week rotation with call every 3^rd night in one of the most challenging Internal Medicine programs in the country.  Needless to say, a lot of us had anxiety about this rotation.  In  the end, there was only one way to dampen that anxiety and that was to take the beast head on.  To do that, we had to empower ourselves with knowledge.  We read and prepared ourselves to handle every challenge that would arise.  We learned how the system worked and studied our medicine to ensure we could deliver the best care to our patients.  By doing this, we boosted our confidence.  If anything is going to squash anxiety dead in its tracks, it’s confidence!
4. Seek Help. Too often, we feel as though we need to take on the world all alone.  We all get anxious from time to time.  We all struggle with our own issues.  At times, these issues can become overwhelming, and when they do, we need to understand that there are people out there who want to help us.    For some of these people, this is their full-time job.  They are there specifically for issues such as this.  They are experts in helping us deal with these situations.  Nowadays, many college campuses and work environments provide resources to help students and employees get help when needed.  Utilize these services.
5. Believe in a higher power. By now, you all know that I am a man of faith and in the end, I answer to God.  What this does for me is make it much easier to put things in a grand perspective.  I never want to minimize anything that any of us go through, however, my personal belief is that greater things always lie ahead because the higher power whom I believe in is in control and loves us.  When you take this mindset into any situation, although there will still be trials and tribulations, it makes it a little easier to get through the tough times.

I want you all to know that we are all here for you.  We started PreMed STAR because we remember what the journey was like.  Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for you.  When you all are dealing with your various stressors, it bothers us and we do our very best to help you get through.  In times of need, don’t hesitate to reach out to us or other members in the community.  That’s the exact reason PreMed STAR exists.  I’d like to know, what tips do you have to deal with premed anxiety? Please  share!

Are you a premed? Join Diverse Medicine now. It's free!