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Trust the Process – How to Have Fun in Medical School

·48 min·3 clips

Gerald Chang says a first successful knot, a passed test, or a strong clinic presentation should be celebrated.

1. Sink or Swim Podcast’s “Trust the Process – How to Have Fun in Medical School” follows Gerald Chang as he talks about making medical school enjoyable without ignoring responsibilities. 2. Gerald Chang introduces himself as a fourth-year student at NSUMD and says classmates see him as someone with strong work-life balance. 3. The episode asks how medical students can create “fun” through mindset, time management, and social connection instead of waiting for free time to appear. 4. Chang says medical school creates “constant stress” through studying, competition, burnout risk, rotations, and pressure to keep a competitive transcript. 5. He argues that students often feel guilty about going out on a Friday night because they think someone else is studying more and will score higher. 6. He says the solution starts with mentality and explains that fun should be built into the ordinary day-to-day of medical school. 7. Chang repeatedly warns that his advice is not a license to skip rotations, ignore tests, or violate responsibilities. 8. He says the goal is to protect “sustainable happiness” and carry those habits into residency and professional life. 9. He notes that some students study more than others, and he tells listeners not to treat his approach as “biblical” or as “scripture.” 10. He gives examples of different kinds of fun, including being a “lone wolf,” going to the gym, playing video games, watching movies, or going to coffee shops and restaurants. 11. Chang defines fun with examples like playing in the park, staying up late, eating junk food, going to a bar, and hanging out with friends. 12. He says his own version of fun includes Switch and PS5 gaming, and he names video games as a regular part of his free time. 13. He describes medical-school group activities, including PBL, TBL, and other weekly sessions during the first two years, as places where new friendships form. 14. Chang says he is introverted and soft-spoken, so he initially dreads new groups before eventually appreciating other students’ humor, intelligence, and personalities. 15. He points to IQ as an example of an interactive course where students use Jeopardy, quizzes, arts and crafts supplies, and Jenga to teach disease processes. 16. He says group settings can lead to study dates, coffee hangs, movie nights, game nights, and even relationships between classmates. 17. The episode is conversational, self-directed, and repetitive in a motivational way, with Chang speaking directly to listeners as “you.” 18. The tone stays practical and personal, mixing first-person examples, warnings about burnout, and direct advice about calendars, boundaries, and wellness resources. 19. Best for medical students who want realistic work-life-balance strategies. 20. Probably skippable for listeners seeking technical medical content or specialty analysis.

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