People walking the beach in southern Maine
Medical school is not for the squeamish, but that has less to do with the anatomy lab than life’s involuntary ebbs and flows that, at times, hit like the seismic love wave of an earthquake, which, in actuality, is not so lovely or endearing. The shock of the COVID-19 pandemic has been ever-present, seemingly ever-lasting, and while we would prefer it take a hint like the fairy tales and be on its way to Ever After, this year has brought opportunity for us to practice how to invite wellness into our lives in the face of all that is blaringly unwell in the world.
In his announcement last fall, President James Herbert, PhD had one message for the UNE Community: “I am certain of one thing: We will get through this, and we will emerge even stronger as a community.” He left us with one piece of advice, to help shift our thinking and recalibrate our brains: “Make sure to get outside, every day. Yes, the weather is getting cooler, and it will soon be cold. But we’re hardy folk, and cold weather has never kept us Nor’easters totally inside… Tons of research has demonstrated the many benefits of both exercise, and of getting outside.”
Recently, one of our alumni mentors remarked that “medical school, and medical training, is a marathon, not a sprint.” Much like how bodies must be conditioned for running, they must be equally conditioned and tended for the long haul of medical school. Never has it been more apparent than through this pandemic where conditions for learning, studying and socializing are not optimal, and yet we still have muddled through. The latter sentiment is a common theme amongst the advice our mentors gave to our students, to remind them to take care of themselves, pace themselves, and listen to themselves as they pursue the long haul of becoming, and embodying, an osteopathic physician. Ralph Waldo Emerson reminds us, “It is one of the beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.” With that, I will let wellness tips from our alumni mentors remind us all that the anatomy of wellness is as brilliantly complex and varied as each and every one of us.
The Anatomy of Wellness
By Marly Solebello, MEd
“Do something that makes you happy”