Graduate school is challenging and requires a lot of your time, energy, and attention. There is a lot of pressure to succeed and do well in all your classes as you spend countless hours studying. However, you are a person with a life outside of just academics, and personal issues can arise unexpectedly, affecting your overall well-being in addition to your academic performance. During my first year of optometry school, a lot happened in my personal life that required me to balance some heavy life issues alongside fast-paced and challenging classes.
I do not claim to have the answer to all of the personal problems and issues that can arise, but I can offer some advice on how I balanced school with life.
During my first year of optometry school, I received some devastating news regarding a few loved ones in my life. I won’t go into detail about these issues, but I was shaken to my core by them, and these situations made me feel helpless and scared, for me and my loved ones. These situations consumed my every waking thought to the point where I could not focus on studying and schoolwork. So, how did I deal with these thoughts and concerns over such devastating news?
You do what you can. I know it sounds cheesy, but it’s true. You do what you have the emotional/physical bandwidth to do for your loved ones. The simple act of just being present and reachable felt like I was helping my loved ones with their troubles. I did not solve the issues that arose, but these small yet thoughtful gestures allowed me to channel my emotions into something productive that helped me deal with my negative emotions while helping my loved ones with their issues. Things happen in life. What’s important is that you dedicate some of your time to these important issues, and when you do, you are 100% present, but you can’t pour your entire being and all your time into these issues that could arise. Of course, I wanted to do everything I could to aid the people I love, but I learned that you can’t help others if you can’t help yourself first. Taking care of your mental and physical well-being is important during such times of emotional turbulence. If you spend all your time worrying about what could happen in the future due to these life issues, you won’t be able to take care of yourself and your responsibilities, let alone a loved one in your life.
TLDR: If you ever feel like there’s too much on your plate with the weight of grad school and life, take things one step at a time and know that you can only do so much in certain situations. This mentality helped make a lot of the uncomfortable thoughts and feelings more digestible to me, and in the long run, allowed me to achieve a healthy balance in my life.
Peter Nguyen, SCCO Class of 2028