Be All There

photo credit: adrienne elle creative

I don't remember exactly what I was stressing out over when I first heard this quote, but I'll never forget how much of an impact it had at that moment. My roommate and I were having a heart-to-heart (just one of the many we had over the four years we lived together in undergrad) and she shared this with me - "whatever you do, be all there". It was something her dad would frequently remind her to do and now I find myself coming back to it again and again. It's a call to live in the moment, to focus completely on each of the things you find yourself doing in a day.

I struggled so much with work-life balance throughout college, and crazy as it sounds, medical school is where I gained a healthier balance. Part of that learning process was really making an effort to be completely present in each moment. My days are scheduled to the max - one hour of renal pathology questions here, an hour of pharmacology review next, and another hour of renal pathology questions - the workload in med school can be pretty overwhelming. I'm also constantly switching my focus throughout the day. This can be really challenging for me especially when it comes to switching my focus from work to just relaxing and catching up on the day with Spencer. We have a name for the state of mind that I enter after studying for long periods of time - it's called "work mode". When I'm trapped in work mode, conversation is short and I'm easily distracted - not exactly the dream wife/friend/human being. While this definitely still happens and will probably always be something I struggle with in the fast-paced lifestyle I've chosen, I'm so much better at being in the moment than I used to be. I'll often stop a couple times during the day to breath and remind myself to enjoy what I'm doing at that specific moment. If I'm studying I try to get excited about what I'm learning and become actively engaged with the topic. If I'm talking to a friend, I try to eliminate the background noise of the day (what's next on my agenda, what I'm going to eat for dinner, etc.) and focus on the conversation at hand. If I'm spending time with Spencer, whether that be on a date or just hanging out at home, I try to give him my total attention. While I'm so, so far from perfect (still guilty of serial Instagram browsing), I'm definitely doing better at savoring each moment.

That's one of the things I love about blogging. It's reflective at it's core and has taught me so much about the beauty in each day. Nothing is gained from always wishing we were somewhere else or at some other point in our lives. Now is soon to be tomorrow and what we do and who we become is determined by each little now. As I'm beginning a long stretch of focused studying, where it would be so easy to look towards tomorrow, I'm trying to keep this little bit of wisdom extra close to heart.

Happy Monday and I hope you have a week full of wonderful "nows".