INFJ Burn Out

According to the personality websites, INFJs can burn out easily because we have difficulty molding our ideals with the demands of sensory day-to-day tasks. 

I can 100% relate with this claim. When I went to medical school, I thought the day-to-day feelings I felt while shadowing psychiatrists or volunteering at clinics would follows me. I honestly thought I'd be feelings those shades of admiration, inspiration, and gratitude every day. However, what I felt was exhaustion, frustration, and annoyance. I couldn't understand why I needed to memorize the millions of bones and muscles in the body when I wanted to become a PSYCHIATRIST. I was losing sleep, stressed about put every second of every day to good use, and annoyed because I kept asking myself why I was studying so hard over a subject I didn't care about, but could never find a substantial answer. I got lost in all the details of everyday living and obligation that I sacrificed exercise, naps, meals, and friends. Not surprisingly, I became miserable, burnt out, and my immune system became so compromised I got shingles. This is surprising because I thought with my paleo and hard-core weight lifting longtime regime, I would have had the health to endure 6 hard weeks. But the stresses of medical school along with cutting my sleep from the usual 9 hours to 5 hours for 6 weeks straight was simply too much. 

I'm still recovering from shingles and to be completely honest, I'm not really sure how to balance my ideals with the stresses and sensory requirements of medical school. But this time around, I'm incorporating the things I love and revolving my schedule around those things, rather than school. Thursday? Ooh, yoga day. Oh yeah, and ultrasound lab. I'm allowing myself to eat things I love, and cook things I want to eat. I'm meditating and going to yoga, and mindfulness meetings with other students struggling with the same things. I'm making friends and I'm sleeping A LOT. I'm considering keeping this going on throughout all of medical school, but we shall see if it helps and if it's sustainable.