The first thing that went out the window was personal hygiene. When I stayed up the night before an exam, my body reflected all the usual battle scars: sleep deprived eyes, coffee breath, and 3-day-old hair. The weeks leading up to finals, my apartment became a national park with mountains of laundry and take-out tray canyons. It was completely normal for my flashcard count to exceed my steps for the day. “This is fine,” I told myself.
Just like on the graphs I had to study, my stress grew exponentially during my first year of pharmacy school. Doctorate programs demand academic rigor of their students, and reasonably so. To become a PharmD, students must receive a thorough training. However, the training you receive can also be applied to yourself. While caring for the outside community is a noble and necessary pursuit, health professionals should do the same for their own community. How can you begin to heal others if you have not healed yourself?
In collaboration with the Howard University Chapter of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists, I developed an initiative called “Healing Healers.” The purpose of Healing Healers is to promote healthy aging and stress relief among health professionals.