First week as a doctor

Oh wow my first week is done.

It was mostly powerpoint-style orientation. You know, the boring stuff such as fire/emergency procedures and how to fill out your timesheet.

Everyone has been so friendly and welcoming so far. I am sure there will be moments ahead of me when people are not so kind, but so far I am enjoying it.

I am having a lot of trouble sleeping though as my mind tends to worry about the calls I may have or not knowing something I clearly should know.

Just a short post as I am flat-out juggling my new job (so so busy) and being a mum as well.

Medical Intern 2019

Woweee..... What a couple of weeks!

The moral of the story is to be prepared for when an opportunity comes along so you can grab it with both hands!

In the end I was offered two internships and a third interview (which I declined when I accepted the second offer).

I actually now start January 7th 2019 which is three weeks from now! :O

It's also interstate so I need to pack up the whole house and move my entire life and family as well as prepare myself mentally and clinically for the year ahead of me which by all past accounts will be challenging.

At this point in time I feel really grateful for all the help I received along the way from my mentors, work colleagues, and especially my husband and children. My parents have been great and my friends. My paramedic boss was so good about it when I gave him under the minimum notice to resign. I'm actually going to remain as casual paramedic and see how the year transpires.

I'm also really proud of myself. I was reflecting back on all the crazy stuff I've done to get to this point. I drove past the McDonalds I studied in on Easter Weekend because the library was shut. I remember the guy next to me saying I'd be better off studying at the casino, given the incredible noise and busyness of the restaurant that particular day. He was probably right!

All the double-shifts, driving hundreds of kilometres, staying up late and getting up early to study around the kids, how my first was born the week after. my final pre-clinical exam and my second the morning before I received my diploma. I'm really proud of my stoicism during this time. And its no wonder I feel burnt out right now.

But there is no time to rest now!

I'm on might shift tonight on the ambulance but I have a million things to do today. Grocery shopping for one because I still have two children that need heathy, or any, food in the house. I also have to declutter my possession s as I don't want to be transporting interstate junk that I don't need or want.

Then there is the clinical revision I really want to do. I've submitted all my AHPRA paperwork which took about 5 hours to complete. I want to print some "cheat sheet" cards covering common meds and common physical exam points (especially neuro).

I also need some doctor clothes. What I currently have won't cover me on a full-time roster. I was my own version of a uniform which consists of opaque black stockings, black knee length pencil skirt (not tight), house, and cardigan with pockets. Hopefully I won't start in ED because that required green scrubs and I only have one set.

Ok that is my very exciting update for now! What a journey it's been to get to this point!

No longer a med student!

Internship offer!

I just got my first offical internship offer! I start Jan 14th 2019.

I'm so excited about my future in medicine.

Not much

Not much has happened since my last post. We have been away on a family holiday before I commence back at work (ambulance) next week.

Australian internship prospects have not changed.

Being away on holiday helps to find the time to sit back and reflect on what you truely want, and to find the adventurous spirit to brave through the tougher times (such as these).

I have been researching possible alternative locations of internship and I hope to have something sorted out in the coming months. Until then its just getting back on road as an ambo, preparing for AMC2, preparing for internship, and saving in case we have to relocate (yet again).

AMC1 pass!

So, so, so happy to report I passed the AMC part 1 on first attempt in May.

The 6 weeks had off to study was all I had really. And we moved in the first week and holidayed in Tasmania for a week as well so it wasn't exactly 6 weeks full-time. I ask had the kids to think about so my days wherefore like 6 hours of study, not 12-14 hours or anything crazy like that.

I think my ambulance experience, my clinical placements and med school course work, and then my study strategy is what got me a passing score on the AMC. I also recommend AMCQBank.com (no affiliation) as that really prepared my mind for the skill of the test taking. I also learned some clinical knowledge along the way, although I'm sure its not the most reliable or authoritative source available! However, it helped me gauge where I was in terms of readiness for the exam. I recommend scoring at least 50% in the AMCQBank.com practice exams before attempting the real exam.

It also helped me realise that I can study for and pass standardised Australian medical exams. Even if in the beginning things seems tough, or I don't know everything, I can still be "good enough" to continue wiht my career. I'd love to know more and be more comfortable as a junior doctor so now I begin the processor preparing for internship.

I have applied for internships in Australia for 2019 and am waiting to see what happens. We are also considering Samoa 2019 to be able to give us a sense of predictability for the next few years, rather than just waiting another 12m months to see what happens. I'm not sure on that one.

Next month I am returning to ambulance work at a new branch. I am very excited to be back doing the job I love, getting my clinical game back on after 18 months of not seeing a single patient since having my son, and regaining my Authority to Practice. We are also a registered profession now so I look forward to paying $500 for that honour lol

So for now I'm studying my ambulance stuff, preparing and applying for internship, and just figuring out a good routine as a mum so the kids grow up happy and healthy.

AMC Prep Week 5/6 - on the road

I am in Week 5 of 6 weeks AMC prep and I am away from home visiting my parents in Tasmania. So far they have been very supportive of my study including looking after the children and cooking meals etc. I wish I had this much support all the time.

This week I have dedicated to the AMC Anthology of Medical Conditions book, specifically the images within the book as I hear they appear on the exam, and AMCQBank. There is probably about 100-150 pictures in Anthology so I think it's reasonable to at least learn the conditions/diseases presented.

I have also been told the images in Tjandra Surgery textbook are worth knowing, however that is a much larger textbook. I will have a flick through when back at the hospital library. My colleague also said each topic that appears in AMC Handbook to look up the answers online in the RACGP guidelines. That makes total sense. And is probably a better way for me to study than using Murtagh's.

I am really enjoying QBank. I was around 70% average but I've dropped to 60% since doing the normal distribution of questions, that is more adult medicine, whereas before I was focusing on obstetrics and gynaecology and psychiatry questions to supplement my study last week for which I seem to do better on exam questions. I have done about 400 questions out of 1795 so far. Actually, I think part of my drop in percentage is doing the questions at home and on holidays because the distraction level is extreme. I find I lose A LOT of marks because of simple errors such as reading the question or answer choices incorrectly. I will have to take my time on the day.

My colleague just informed me she passed the AMC with a 60-65% average on QBank so that is a little reassuring, however I would like to improve my scores over the next few weeks before I sit the exam. Of course, I'd like to do really well on the exam, and not just pass it, but I need to sit it next month as I don't have any more full-time study time available to me, plus hoping to have some results for internship applications mid-year.

I have now booked my exam for Saturday the 19th of May. I will be staying in the city (without the kids) the night before so I don't have to travel as far to the testing centre. I need to be there at 8:30am.

My current level of confidence has improved to where I can see I can possibly do this (hence I booked the exam) but I am not very confident at all. And it feels shit.

Overall, though, this prep has made me feel much more confident about possibly being an intern soon. As a supervising doctor once said to me: "You don't have to be the best, you just have to be average." Love it.

If I pass AMC then I will feel the right to feel average :)

Improving

I have been intermittently taking practice exams to see where I'm at and I'm happy to report my confident and marks are improving.

I think a lot of it is just activating my brain in this way again after such a lengthy break with the kids, not thinking about much else except nappies, formula, and whether Iggle Piggle is an appropriate role model for the past year.

I started out with an embarrassing 45% correct average, now it's around 70%. I would like to be hitting 75% consistently (or even greater) before I attempt the real exam.

So I've almost completed 4 weeks of full-time study prep, but in that time I did miss some days due to moving, Easter, illness etc. I plan to have another 4 weeks of part-time prep when hubby goes back to work but I would absolutely love another 6 weeks full-time study (to make 3 months total) but I simply do not have that option due to childcare.

Anyway, no time to lose worrying. Back to the books.

I'm currently doing AMC QBank as well.

Week 4/6 of AMC1 prep

Today I start week 4 of my 6-week Australian Medical Council exam for International Medical Graduates prep. I can't believe I'm already half-way.

Week 2 was a write-off due to moving. Last week I had a massive migraine with neurological signs that landed my in the Emergency Department with a CT Brain. I'm all fine but it took the wind out of my sails.

Weeks 3 and 4 have been a much reduced study load than what I set for myself in weeks 1 and 2. I really should've given myself an extra week for adult medicine at least.

This week is Obstetrics and Gynaecology. I am doing the O&G questions from AMC Handbook of MCQs, and cross-referencing them with Llewellyn-Jones Fundamentals of O&G. Some of the gynaecology questions from AMC Handbook are in the adult medicine section so I saved them for this week when I came across them in week 2 as there are only about 28 obstetric questions.

A lot I know from just having a baby myself. Some I learned at med school and from my in-hospital clinical obstetrics placement, but seeing as I was pregnant with my first during the reproductive system module and then with my second during my O&G placement, I can't say I was really on the ball during those times at med school. I definitely learned more by simply being pregnant myself. Of course its very much augmented by the fact I read O&G textbooks to supplement my own experience as a patient. I always say that its easier to remember things when your brain deems them important. What is more important than the health of your unborn baby?

Part of the issue I had such a terrible migraine, I think, was from studying at the library. The public library has only one study room and it is often booked by group of old ladies chatting about knitting or baking or some crap that really infuriates me. The other "study" section of the library has been so unbelievably noisey and distracting lately. I am a mum and a paramedic so I can work under pretty awful noise conditions but this library situation has been horrible.

Then I realised I really needed a particular textbook that I really didn't want to have to purchase so I rang the local hospital library to see if they would allow me an outsider membership. It took a week to organise and $135 for an annual membership but I am so happy to be able to borrow at the hospital library AND study in a lovely quiet space. So stoked.

Its been the Easter long weekend so neither library has been available to me and my husband had arranged some (urgent) landscaping to occur at our new house and our babysitter kind of feel through so I was unable to study which really sucked. Always, always obstacles for me. But...I just have to push through.

So far I am sticking MOSTLY to my plan of completing AMC Handbook cover-to-cover and referencing topics in Murtaghs, as well as Llewellyn-Jones O&G, Practical Paediatrics by South and Iaasacs, and I think I'll also use Foundations of Clinical Psychiatry by Bloch. A few other clinical guidelines online, and I'm really going to try and go through the photos in AMC Anthology of Medical Conditions because that's where I heard a lot of the images in the exam come from.

Ok back to the books because I have no time to waste.

The AMC prep continues

I'm in week 2 of my 6 weeks full-time AMC study prep.

We moved house last week which threw a massive spanner in the works. I sacrificed my study time to unpack and set up furniture to be able to live. It's so much more time consuming with kids, plus our new place needed a number of immediate renos. I love it though, so much character and oh boy was it a bargain for where it is. All I see is the potential. I just want to stay there but who knows where I'll get my internship next year.

I'm still studying AMC Handbook of MCQs against Murtaghs as my primary focus, then looking at some other topics that are known to come up in the AMC part 1.

My colleagues have been doing well passing their exams which makes me more optimistic, although they are a lot smarter than I am!

That's all I have to update, I have to reach my set daily study questions quota in the library before I go home. Luckily I moved just around the corner so I can go home for lunch break. Today I want to do 20 questions which should take 8-10 hours.

AMC prep

My AMC prep is now in full-swing.

My 3yo has started kinder two days a week from 9-2 and I put the baby in daycare the same times. Then I go to the library and study.

I was also doing Sundays at the library (6 hours) which was fantastic but hubby was feeling the exhaustion a little too much so I decided to drop the Sundays and hope and pray the kinder hours are enough.

Hubs has 6 weeks off starting week after next. I will be studying full-time during that time. I have broken the AMC handbook down into 6 weeks and will complete all the questions and do the necessary back-reading in Murtaghs etc. This will be the bulk of my prep.

I am still intending on taking AMC1 mid-year. I would LOVE to postpone it to end of year but I'm not sure how much more benefit I would get as I'm wanting to return to work part-time as well as my long service leave pay is about to finish.

Happily, my brain is finally able to switch into student/doctor-mode the times the kids are in care, which is fantastic. I finally feel like myself again. I'd personally prefer twice as many hours to study but that is not my current reality. I'd love to stay up at night an study when they go to bed but to behest, I am exhausted by then and bubs is still waking twice a night. I don't think I can do it. Maybe closer to the exam I'll caffeinate myself eve further.

In the past I'd watch a doctor show like ER to get me motivated when I'm feeling like a professional student and not a doctor but seeing as I haven't really watched TV since the kids were born, now when I do-so it just seems so lame. BUT, someone did recommend I read When Breath Becomes Air and that definitely sparked some motivation within me. I think I should try and get another medical memoir to read.

Having kids...it's just such a huge obstacle for mothers wanting to do anything else than be a mother. I am so thankful to have this current balance. The kids are loving kinder/daycare so mum-guilt is not very strong right now. Baby smiles and waves when he sees the educators at daycare. He happily plays with their toys and naps better than at home. I think he is benefitting from the daycare as much as I am.

In my vast experience as a mother (lol), I believe that finding the right balance is unique to each family, takes trial and error to find, and is immensely dynamic require readjusting the sails as you voyage.

I am very, very nervous about AMC, but each day I study my optimism grows a fraction. The honest truth is, I am not confident because I am simply not ready, I haven't studied enough and my knowledge is not where it is expected to be. I will overcome this by studying more and improving my knowledge as preparation is the best cure for nervousness.

AMC prep and worry, worry, worry

Hi,

I'm back!

So...what has happened since my last post...

I had my second baby. A gorgeous baby boy. He's just so sweet and handsome, calm and very very strong! Wow! We call him Hulk Baby or Bam Bam. He's just perfection. I received my medical school diploma the day after he was born. It was a strange and amazing week!

He has only just started sleeping well at 6 months old, and with having a 3-year-old on top, it means I've been the perfect example of exhausted. Complete baby-brain has prevented me from attempting any form of study, revision, AMC or internship prep, until now. Given this situation, I have deferred my internship until 2019. I hope I get something next year.

So I will be focusing on AMC prep now. I hope to sit AMC Part 1 before May/June in case any mid-year offers become available (unlikely). I think I might need longer to pass it. I'm now dealing with the consequences of only putting in minimal effort at medical school basically since my first child was born. I had a feeling I'd need a catch-up year but having a baby on top means I'm practically having two catch-up years. I worry this won't be good when I apply for a job. I plan to try and do some observer shifts in the second-half of the year to accomodate for this. I worry I won't be able to fit everything in as I also want to go back to work casually for some extra money.

My daughter commences 3-year-old kinder next month, just two days a week, 9-2. We have arranged for our infant son to attend daycare on the same days to allow me time to study. Currently, I get not more than an hour or two per day, and that is highly interrupted and unproductive. My kids sleeping patterns overlap in the middle but it means at least one is awake for 16-18 hours a day. You don't need a PhD in mathematics to figure out I'm already running on empty and can't stay up to study when they are asleep. I'm ok to live day-to-day as a mum like this, but as a doctor preparing for registration exams and needing my brain to fire on all cylinders, this is less than ideal.

My husband will take care of the kids solo on the weekends this year so I can go to the library but the opening hours are limited at only 9 hours for the entire weekend. So, to do the maths, if all goes to plan, I will have 19 hours per week allocated to study. Most people study full-time, as in 40-50 hours, for 3-6 months to pass AMC. This makes me even more worried.

So I'm worried. In a nutshell. In a worried nutshell.

Then add on top of that "mum guilt." The fighting of the biological desire to be there for my babies 24/7. The wanting to play Lego and make snacks above medicine is a strong force. Intellectually I know better. I know they can thrive on two days paid care a week, I know they can thrive on hubby being the stay at home parent while I kick-start my medical career. I know this because I've done it already with thee lest child and she is just a fantastic kid.

I know they kids will have amazing opportunities as they grow with my income that medicine can provide.

My daughter's kinder is also the school both children will attend until they are 18 (graduated secondary school). It is a very good (read: expensive) school. It makes the worry about everything worth it. I follow the school on social media and when I see the older students are in Spain or France on exchange, participate in sports such as equestrian or cross-country skiing, travel to Ireland to learn traditional dance, and that half of the students graduate with scores in the top 20% of the country (i.e. admissions access to the majority of university courses), I know it is all worth it.

Done!

On the weekend I passed my final exam for medical school. It was a 16-station OSCE formatted to resemble the AMC part 2.

All assignments submitted and tuition fees finalised (I owed for library access).

Now I sit as a medical school graduand waiting my diploma in the mail and also waiting the arrival of my second child who is due in 4 weeks!

I am off work on paid maternity leave and long service leave until May 2018. The next few weeks and months I will be concentrating almost solely on being a mum. I have decided to defer my AMC prep until Baby 2 is sleeping a bit more and I have caught my breath after the first few months of infanthood.

I intend on completing my 12-month medical internship next year. Applications are open now.

I have been so overwhelmed with everything over the past few weeks that I haven't properly processed what this journey has meant for me or all the people  who have supported me on the way. I thought I'd do a big Oscars-style thank you speech here and on social media but instead I'm just sitting here a bit numb, a bit relieved, and mostly in the fog that is late pregnancy.

Nearly done

So... I've completed all my clinical placements! Now I only have my final OSCE to do. It is scheduled for May. Wow.

Actually, I am behind in submitting a few log books so I must get those done asap.

Now I'm looking at internship possibilities, and....having a (second) baby in June!

I'm coming to terms with this whole crazy, stressful, amazing journey actually coming to a completion. And my new career only just beginning.

I must be feeling confident of my future transition as I'm started sewing a few pairs of scrubs. You can buy them but I wanted to make them from old sheets from the opshop.

I gues that's all I have to comment on at this stage. Just preaprig for my OSCE and finalising everything to graduate!

I'm back.

Sorry about my absence.

I had a little freak-out.

Ok so I feel better now. I've sorted out my social media, AND decided I don't want to be a surgeon anymore lol

I got home from my last placement, and my daughter was acting distant toward me. I hated it. I hated it more than I want to be a surgeon. I want that closeness and bond with my child that only a more family-friendly medical career can provide. So there you go. GP-land for me. Maybe ED, depending.

So right now I'm back in the student accommodation ready for my FINAL clinical rotation! Woo-hoo! Amazing! It's in O&G.

I'm just sitting at my desk cutting off the fake nails I had put on for my wedding (PS I got married). Painted nails, and espcially aartifical nails, are a real no-no, but I havent had the chance to go get them soaked off so here I am cutting them really short and hoping noone will notice. They are a natural/nude colour. I will begin the painful process of actually tearing them from my nail bed tonight and see how far I get. There are bonded on tight!

Now I need to go cram for tomorrow. Apparently we have a full theatre list of gynae surgeries and I need to revise my female pelvic surgical anatomy knowledge.

Going away again. Sorry. Byes.

Hi peeps.

For the benefit for any regular readers out there, I wanted to let you know that I'm putting the blog on private for a while. Maybe an extended while.

The reason is that I'm going to be applying for doctor jobs soon enoguh and there is a certain societal expectation of the public persona of doctors, even though I've tried to keep this blog fairly anonymous. Given everything, I really can't afford to have any extra obstacles in my way.

I've taken a few other measures on the internet to try and build a professional persona. I'm almost digustedin myself for doing it, but I believe it's necessary. I'm getting married in a few weeks and I've decided to change my name (which will be before graduation from medical school) which allows me the luxury and opportunity to start afresh.

Anyway, I'll leave this here for a few days and then I'll go private for a bit.

Good luck to everyone!

So you want to be a surgeon

I have a problem. I want to be a surgeon.

It's problem because you have to be mentally a little bit, hmmm, mental to want to sacrifice all else for a career that is tough (very tough). It's also a problem for me becasue I've got a 2-year old daughter that I love being a mummy for. It's also a problem because surgical training programs are incredibly competitive to gain entry too and I'm, let's just say, not overly competitive in where I'm choosing to study medicine.

Where there's a will, there's a way, hey?

My Five Steps to achieving my/your goal is:

1. Visualise yourself achieving your goal
2. Find out what you need to do to achieve your goal, then repeat Step 1.
3. Find people that have already achieved your goal and do what they did, then repeat Step 1.
4. Find out if the people from Step 3 are available to be your mentor, either formally, informally, online stalker-type thing, or not.
5. Actually do the things in Step 2.

I've looked at the RACS website as to my Step 2 above and Oh. My. God. just getting INTO the surgical training program makes medical school look like a walk in the park. I can't believe I've been crying about how hard medical school is. It's true! The GAMSAT was the easiest exam of my medical career. Great.

Anyhoo, challenges only make us stronger, right?

....Right?

Getting closer to graduating!

The following is what I still need to do to graduate from medical school (it's getting closer!):

1. Complete surgical rotation (2.5 more weeks!)
2. Complete O+G rotation (8 weeks over xmas)
2. O+G exam
3. OSCE
4. Final Clinical Exam (MCQ)

I've also got a few log books etc to hand in. Pretty basic, but just time-consuming and annoying but hey it could be worse.

So how exciting!

I was able to arrange the surgery placement I needed, here at the same hospital, and got it sorted out very quickly and got asked what dates did I want, so here I am doing back-to-back with my 8 weeks IM (that I completed woo-hoo).

I moved rooms in student accommodation but it's in the same building. Last week, though, they had me in the doctors/med students house. Until that point I wasn't entirely sure why I was being housed with the nursing students, but I assumed it was something logisitcal. Now, although I still don't know why, I'm so glad I'm with the nursing students because the doctors house is horrible! I met with the lovely housing coordinator and she said "I'll make sure to have you in the nurses house over xmas" as it's summer and there's no aircon in the doctors house! Yuk!

Although I might be camping anyway....

I have just purchased a campervan :D This makes me very happy!

My lil fam and I did a campervan trip in New Zealand this time last year and loved it so much. I really wanted to get one of my own. Plus our extended families are spread all around Australia and I just love road trips. Especially while I'm a paramedic with lots of RDOs and annual leave and my fiance is a stay-at-home dad and our daughter is not at school yet. Such a greta opportunity to get away in the van when we can.

We've done a bit of camping before and lvoed it but it;s not as easy as just parking your van somewhere.

Anyway, I'm totally psyched and am thinking about a career in radiology so I can work from my laptop :D Not sure that is even a thing but the Plan B would be medical writing. Unfortunately, I don't reall ylike doing that so we will see!

So, my fam might come up and stay with me inthe campervan as it will be summer and there are really nice places to camp around where I'm doing my rotation. I am even excited about riding my bicycle to the hospital each day! I don't even ride a bicycle!

Apart from the eager anticipation of graduating, and the excitmnt over the future #vanlife, I am completely exhausted! I'm at work or placement 28 days of the month and it really not good for one's health at all. I would never, ever push on like this for an extended period of time. It's just not worth it.

So now to get an early night in my student dorm room before the ridiculously early start surgeons have (6:30am to get ward rounds done before theatre) and have a sleep uninterrupted by my little munchkin (although I miss her sososososo much).

What a journey!

Clinical placement update

Things have been going really good on this placement. The hospital is very friendly, as are the other students (both medical and nursing).

Staying in the student accommodation has been a very good experience for me. I am able focus being on a medical student and also rest when I need to (which you can't always do as a parent) which has enabled me to focus. I feel like I'm really keeping up with my local medstudent-peers and meeting expecations of the Interns and Registrars.

The Consultant and seniour staff here at the hospital have all been very forward in suggesting that I would be welcome as a doctor here, although they do all admit the frustrating obstacles with the internship bottle neck and the problem where the hospital is not an accredited training facility (at the moment). I do believe this will change in the near futre as the workload increases in regional areas and the need to invest in workforce stability pressures the government and training colleges to have a rethink. Whether this changes in time for me, I'm not sure.

Lately, I have not been worrying as much about my medical career's future as I have in the past. I'm not sure why. I think maybe it's becasue things are seeming to be working out, I'm more reassured of my level of knolwedge and the welcoming I've had at this site, and perhaps it has been a change in mindset. Maybe it's got to do with my fiancé taking over the primary carer role for our daughter. Maybe it's the fact I listen to podcasts in the car on the way up here and have created a morning routine including saying positive affirmations.

Things just seem to be going my way in all areas of my life, not just medicine.

They say to do the hard things when times are easy, or as I say "Get ahead now while you can".

I feel reinvigorated with my passion for medicine once again. I don't know why.

At the moment, I want to be a GP. I want to work 9am-3pm (school hours) and maybe train as a GP/O+G, or a GP/EM or something like that. Whatever it is, I'll be one of those "good" GPs. I want to have my office decor reflecting my aesthetic (which is quite clinical anyway) and even do housecalls. I'd like to build a relationship with my patients and be one of those old-school family physcicians. I want to keep my training up so I can handle emergencies that come in. I see so many GPs can't place IVs because they never do them, or even interpret 12-lead ECGs. I want to be able to excise skin lesions without referring to a surgeon, and really look after my pregnant and paediatric patients, and even mental health.

This is funny as I rememebr when I did my Basic Clinical Skills workshop the female GP said she was getting out of General PRactice as female GPs do "tears, fears, and smears" Which I think is psych, the worried-well/worried mums, and women's health (PAP smears). Bizarre that those are the things I, once again, look forward to providing for my patient.

Anyway, time to make dinner back in the student kitchen...

Additt to last post

For some reason I felt like I really wanted to talk about the idea of wastage when switching to minimalism.

So, here are my thoughts:

• Things taking up space and time and hassle and that are of burden to your life have a negative value. 
• Discarding absolute junk, and donating the rest as an act of charity, is good. Sell items that still have some monetary value if you desire.
• Once youve done your initial purge, you shouldn't unnecessaarily over-consume to the same extend you have been before. This reduces life-long net waste.
• If you do bring new things into your house that align with your aesthetics, try and purge the same number of items.
• When you do purchase "stuff", you are more likely to do it intentionally, thus minimising waste of money, time, landfill etc. It is much easier to do this when you have less other stuff and therefore you know what you do and do not need.
• You are less likely to duplicate purchases as you already know exactly where everything is.

I think that was it.

Minimalism

Totally non-med school related (or is it...?)...

So I've been doing the KonMarie method of decluttering since January (about 6 months) and am a bit addicted to it. I reassured my fiance it isnt OCD because people with OCD don't want their obsessions/compulsions lol

Our home/my life has been decluttered quite nicely. I did recently write a post on digital decluttering. That went well also. I'm also trying to limited my daily social media use. Sometimes I'm successful, sometimes not.

So now I'm down to wanting to go minimalist. Apparently there are "no rules" when it comes to minimalism.

I have begun with theses steps (some of them are decluttering rather than minimailsm but his is what I've been doing over the past fortnight):

1. Clearing off all surface tops, ie kitchen bench. I threw away (donated) my knife block and the knives just live in the draw now. I've donated a number of ornaments in order to welcome more space.

2. Reducing draw contents to the bare essentials and using divders in the draw for more order. I got some from the opshop! And a new white collander to relace the blue crappy one.

3. I got a whole heap of glass containers from the opshop and have begun taking the things in my pantry out of their packets and putting them into the containers. Apparently the words on the packaging creates mental clutter. I really like the aesthetics we have achieved so far in doing this. Even my fiance was very surprised and happy with how it looks. I also got a spice rack from the opshop (a nice one) and soaked off all the labels. Yep, I just have to guess which spice is which haha but it shouldnt be that difficult.

4. Pens! omg why do I have so many pens! I donated all but four.

5. Wardrobe! Totally my favourite! I begun with "defining my personal style" lol That was achieved with the help of Pinterest, and by thinking about which clothes make me feel really good and why. Many of the minimalists I follow on YouTube like to wear basically just black and white and maybe grey. One had a good tip about not buying tshirts with prints on them.

Ok so "My defined style" is like a smart, tailored casual with a good fitted sleeve and waist, and a slight utilitarian feel/slight WWII era feel. I've settled on my colour palette and it is the monochromes of black, some white (slightly high-maintenance so not overly keen), greys, and also denim blue, earthy olive drab green, and some blush nude. Nudes look fab but they washout my complexion so I need to be careful with it.

Once I decided on the colour palette I discarded any clothes in my wardrobe that weren't in-sync. This may sound extreme but let's face it, it's difficult to put together an outfit when you've got too many colours to work with. How many times do you wear something because you haven't worn it for a while even though you don't actually like it?

There weren't many that had to go except a few aqua-greens (I love the colour but again washes out my complexion), and a few other pinks that were too intense for my taste and never got worn in reality. I also realised I only like clothes that have a nice texture fabric, that have a nicely finished neckline that isn't too deep (hello, boobs), and I also avoid animal products like the plague due to ethical beliefs.

Then I listed the activities I do most often and what clothing I need for them (ie work is sorted due to uniform, med school hospital placements, hanging out at home, going on hikes and mini-adventures, and date nights with the man ie dinner and movies). I listed the items I love wearing but need replacing with the appropriate colour palette.

This was the fun part! I went to Target and Kmart (baby-free!) and went down every single aisle, considering my required colours, cut, fabric, and the clothes I actually need in my life. I didn't get distracted by "cute" clothes that weren't in-line with my desired wardrobe. For under $200 I virtually completed my wardrobe. I actually don't think I really require any more clothes now at all. I feel so liberated and free. I estimate I have around 50 items of clothing only now (sounds like more than it is: I challenge you to count your own), all of which I love. All of which go together and are real no-brainers. No stress about what goes with what, what looks good on or makes me look fat (losing weight also has helped this one), what suits me for which occasion. Seriously, who has time for that?

There are only one or two more things I'm thinking: ripped skinny jeans (I may just rip one of the pairs I own, plus I need to take int he waist band an inch to accomodate my large butt and small waist), new running shoes (might be on the xmas list), a new faux leather jacket (I have one I love but it's a bit broken and I'm on the lookout for its suitable replacement), and a blazer. I tried on one today but it didn't feel the right way so maybe that's not really what I want. I light jacket or some sort I think.

That's it! Amazing!

It will also be easier when I go to the opshop to search the garment racks with a clear vision of what I desire.