Graduate School and Your Health

Monday, August 11, 2014


I wrote a piece this past weekend focused on self-care during the demanding time of graduate school.  Here it is.

Note:

If you decide to share this piece in any media whatsoever please make sure you credit me.  I want my blog to serve as a resource for others.  And I also want the credit for the hard work I am doing.

Graduate school, even when it goes well, is often a demanding time.  Even students who enjoy the benefit of supportive families, extensive networks of friends and professional contacts who enter into school both ambitious and healthy would be wise to be mindful about what they are embarking upon.  While this article can be meaningful to those who are so fortunate I am writing more specifically to those current and soon-to-be students who begin the journey of graduate school with less than ideal circumstances.

I completed my master’s degree in international environmental policy in 2011.  After graduation I offered my time and skills in a variety of contexts.  I first assisted the Wild Salmon Center of Portland, Oregon in the completion of a salmon conservation planning toolkit website.  In 2012 I worked as a Socioeconomics Team Intern at the headquarters office of the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.  More recently I completed a McCloy Environmental Policy Fellowship that was awarded to me by the American Council on Germany.  I am the only alumnus of my school to have been awarded this fellowship.  I have benefitted both professionally and personally from these different experiences and am grateful for how these opportunities have expanded my life.

While attending school I was unknowingly still living with the burden of an early life history that featured domestic violence and neglect.  It is not an exaggeration for me to state that I didn’t expect to live to the age of nine years of age.  I had willingly sought out treatment earlier in my adult life to address the impact of this unfortunate early history.  And I thought I had successfully addressed the harm done to me.  But I had not.  I only discovered later, after finishing school in 2011, that I could benefit from engaging in more therapeutic work.  The diagnosis I was given last year was Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  I am thankfully much healthier now.  I was deemed sub-clinical for the condition in January, 2014.

As someone who has been ‘in the trenches’ I invite you to consider the following wisdom I have gleaned from a life that has featured a wealth of diverse experiences.

Don’t Procrastinate

If you have a feeling something is a bit off with your health do not delay in seeking out health care.  In some cases an imbalance in the body may exist long before you notice obvious symptoms.  To reframe in a positive way…be proactive.

I had some difficulty concentrating during one of my semesters at the Monterey Institute.  Looking back I have no doubt it was a consequence of the fact that I had not received sufficient treatment to address my early life history.

Frame Your Life Within the Context of Balance

Anything that exists in an imbalanced state for too long is at enhanced risk for dysfunction.  There are twenty four hours in a day no matter where you are on the planet and regardless of what you are doing.  How do you want to use your time?  What do you want to accomplish?

Establish A Vision

Graduate school can be a dizzying time in which you veritably swim in a sea of information.  You might want to do so many things that you belatedly discover you are burning your personal candle on both ends.  But see my second point above: Twenty-four hours in a day.  Establish a vision, to the best of your ability, regarding what you wish to accomplish while in school.  Be as detailed as possible.  If it helps you create a biweekly or monthly ‘brainstorming party’ with fellow students to help you gain clarity.

Try New Things

If there is one concise statement I can offer that encapsulates my learning in the last year it is this one: try new things.  I personally have found extraordinary benefit in a treatment know as eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR therapy).  I had never tried it before last year.

If you have even decided to embark on graduate school then you hopefully are amenable to new things.  Education is, after all, learning new things and also thereby learning how much you do not know.  Do not underestimate the powerful value of new learning, new friends and new perspectives.  One of my most powerful life experiences was living and working on a Native American reservation at the tender age of 23.

Be Kind To Yourself

If you have significant health issues and they begin to impact your studies do not waste time pathologizing yourself.  Consider this piece of Buddhist wisdom: “You, yourself, as much as anyone in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”  You know better than anyone else if you are giving 110% every day.  If you are then consider cutting back to at least 99% of your capacity.  If overwhelmed reach out for support.  Go to a park.  Have a meal with a friend.  Go outside and breathe fresh air.

I think this last piece of wisdom is especially timely.  As students dedicated to creating substantive change in the world it can be easy to feel dismay in the world of 2014.  Indeed, there are many concerning issues at play throughout the world.  You are one person…do what you can each day and then let it go.  This holds true for classwork, internships, interviewing and all your life dreams.