I am currently writing this piece almost at the end of my intern supervised hours, and studying for my exams. When I was asked to write about a day in my life, I think I screwed my face up and thought “why?” because there is nothing interesting about my life at the moment. I work, eat, study, sleep and repeat. 

I work full time in a community pharmacy where I have been since I started my degree. So I am very familiar with the staff, store processes and customers. At work I have been trying to focus on asking as many questions as I can, to best prepare myself for when I graduate and am working on my own. The closer I come to getting my registration, the more I am excited, but also nervous, about the future. I’ve thought about being on my own and not having a support team, pharmacists to check my work, and it can be daunting coming to the realisation that I will be completely responsible for the decisions I make. It’s a huge responsibility, and it surprises me that I didn’t really think about this until now. 

Working full time and studying at the same time has been really tough for me. I come home from work and I’m too exhausted to study most nights. I let go of some of my hobbies at the start of my internship because I felt I was struggling to maintain them, and simply did not have the mental capacity to uphold them. However, after checking in with the owner of the pharmacy, she did remind me to think about myself and my mental health. Shortly after realising I was just a big ball of stress, I got back into working out and feeling better about myself. Which, in turn, made me feel more relaxed, and led me to have a clearer head.

Most of the year I was trying to keep up with my school work. I study at work by interacting with customers, doctors and involving myself in new situations to further enhance my knowledge and skills. As well as, spending time to sit down with my preceptor every week and go through medicine knowledge. 

The most challenging part of my internship thus far, is the pressure. This year felt like you were being punched from every angle at the same time. So many things you need to do, all at once. But my advice would be to stay organised, and write out everything you would like to complete every couple of months and work towards completing these tasks. Most importantly, we do need to be reminded to look after ourselves. We are so focused on finishing our degree, that we can neglect our personal health. I’ve learnt this is so important to maintain balance and without that, we’re unable to show up at our best.