I think the best solution is for school to exist, fairy-tale like, in a misty place outside of time (or, for those of you who prefer sci-fi, if med school were through a time warp or a stable wormhole), so we could go away for two years, get through classes, and come back to find that only a winter had passed here. On one hand, it would be sort of extra miserable because we’d be away from our support systems. But we also wouldn’t be around to forget to return calls, decline invitations to parties we really want to attend, neglect our spouses and children and parents, end relationships prematurely, etc.
This may seem counterintuitive, but the hardest part of med school is life outside of med school. People in med school are pretty smart overall, so classes, while stressful, are generally doable on their own. What is not very doable is having to do midterms while your mother is very sick, or your new baby needs you, or you're massively depressed, or someone close to you is having a miscarriage, or you are having a miscarriage/ some surgery or other, or you're in a bad fight with someone you love. Those are all things that actually happened to people I know within the last month, and in several of those cases the confluence of circumstances almost undid people.
A note here on my own situation. I've been doing better, and as my head has slowly cleared and I've been able to look back, I've been floored by the evidence of God's kindness to me. Somehow He delivered me through all of my tests thus far, and considering the trouble I had getting through some of the material, that is nothing short of a miracle. I am so grateful. I am amazed at how He takes care of me, how He brings me through each moment. I know that some of my classmates have gone through similar journeys.
