Block 6 Week 9: Looking forward to doing some Nothing.

TWO WEEKS TO BLOCK BREAK!!!

I was thinking about the blog, and life, and stuff, ya know? What really jumped in my head was how block break is coming, and what exactly makes medical students so look forward to that one week between blocks. And... it's Nothing. Like capital N. Nothing. See, I didn't really grasp the concept of Nothing until I started med school. Because doing Nothing just kinda happened whenever I wanted it to. Nothing is the thing that EVERYONE likes to do, but they don't really know it until they can't do Nothing any more. Do you know what Nothing is? Here, I'll 'splain. So Nothing is the concept where a person can just exist. If you want to sit in bed and watch Netflix all day, go for it. There's nothing on the schedule, nothing impending, just Nothing. Nothing doesn't really exist for the average medical student. Even if you don't have an exam tomorrow, there is one coming -- or some kind of assignment due -- all the time. Or boards. Don't get me started on boards.

So the biggest thing that a student like me gets to missing is the ability to turn the brain off for a period of time, and just do what you WANT instead of what's on the agenda. Just a week a few times a year where the only thing expected is Nothing. For me, what qualifies as Nothing might be different than others. Nothing can be catching up on laundry, rearranging my closet, going to my kids' basketball game, or actually sitting on my butt curled up in my awesome new heated blanket and knitting or playing some Candy Crush. The crazy schedule expected of students in medical school can really do damage to the morale, and one of the ways to combat it is Nothing.

It's really funny how people will ask me if I've seen some new TV show, or shopped at a new store, or eaten at a new restaurant. Usually the answer is um, no, I've been studying my head off and living in a tiny bubble that includes my house, my school, and church. I always say oh that sounds cool, I'll have to add it to my list of things to do on block break. Except. I don't WANT a list of things to do on block break because that sounds like something other than Nothing. So it usually ends up that I never watch the show, or do the other things because they are a lot like a list of things. And who wants a list of things when they want to do Nothing?

That's more like it. The word bored just isn't a thing any more, because with the load I'm pulling, bored is a luxury that I rarely am able to indulge in. So for those of you who have wondered why I live for block break, there it is. Nothing. The opportunity to put everything down that's heavy and just do some Nothing. And eat some pizza, perhaps.