Officially Day 2 of Taming the Beast.

Me: I love you, USMLE Beast.

Well, here I am, “officially” on Day 2 of studying for the USMLE Step 1. Exciting stuff. *cricket noises*

I’ve realized that the most important thing during this whole process is keeping calm and carrying on. For example, today I am doing “biochemistry.” Now when I go over questions and look in my First Aid binder, it’s so easy to get overwhelmed and feel like I’m never going to get it all done. But when I think to myself, okay, just biochemistry today. That’s it. I don’t have to be ready for the ENTIRE test today, I just need to get through biochemistry. Sounds simple enough.

So as it turns out, in order to tame the Beast, as I have nicknamed the Step 1, GI Jane needs to keep her cool. I can’t imagine that Joan of Arc looked at les Tourelles and was like “WTF!!!!” She was probably like, “Let’s go!” And let’s be clear here, taking the Step 1 is akin to going to war with the English. Except the English is my self and Joan of Arc is myself.

But I regress. (I must profess – I love analogies and parentheses, and will use them both profusely in this blog).

I got an email this morning from my contact at Columbia Business School about a healthcare startup workshop later this month which I am pretty psyched about. I love getting into these things and learning about a completely different side of medicine.

Oh, and lastly, I’ve deactivated my Facebook profile for this process. Disconnected and it feels so goooood.