Summer has always been one of my favorite seasons! This summer has been unique since it’s my last summer as a student (the summer between your first and second year of medical school is your last summer as a student) and because of COVID-19. Some of my travel plans had to be postponed and/or cancelled, due to the various mandatory quarintine rules when traveling to different states. Also here in California churchs, gyms, nail salons, hair salons, and other indoor activities have been temporarily shut down again.

I’ve also been catching up on sleep this summer. Although they recommend that you get seven hours of sleep a night while in medical school, the harsh reality is that you won’t always get seven hours of sleep a night. So, nearly every day this summer I’ve been making sure I get at least 7.5 hours of sleep a night (I’ve been leaning more towards eight to ten hours of sleep). The sleep is much needed and appreciated.

Getting back into my exercise routine has also been one of my top priorities for this summer. I was able to enjoy some time in the gym, when the gyms here in California temporarily opened up; however, since the gyms are closed again I’ve gotten back into walking and doing other types of at-home workouts. It’s not ideal, but at least its something.

To unwind I’ve gotten back into playing video games and reading for leisure. I’ve been a huge gamer for years now, so it was hard not playing any kind of video games for a whole school year. I would be lying if I said I didn’t binge play Call of Duty Modern Warfare and some other games (including trying to platinum more games - if you have a PS4, you know exactly what I’m talking about). I’ve also been reading a couple of books I’ve been wanting to read for some time now. Some of them I’ve already purchased at the bookstore or on kindle, it was just finding the time to actually read them. I know I won’t be able to play video games or read for leisure like this in a while, so I’m taking full advantage of my summer freetime.