How My Side Project During Med School Saved My Mental Health

Because Sometimes, the Most Healing Thing You Can Do Is Something Completely Unrelated to Medicine

Medical school is marketed as the pinnacle of achievement — a rigorous journey paved with noble intention, academic excellence, and the promise of a white coat. But what they don’t advertise is the part where your identity shrinks down to grades, exams, and clinical rotations. Where days blur into flashcards, nights into anxiety spirals, and weeks into survival mode.

For me, med school wasn’t just demanding — it was mentally consuming. Somewhere in the second year, when the initial novelty wore off and the grind fully set in, I felt like I was disappearing. I didn’t know who I was beyond my student number, my exam scores, and my ability to regurgitate biochemistry at 3 a.m.

That’s when I stumbled — almost accidentally — into something that saved me: my side project.

The Side Project That Wasn’t Part of the Curriculum

It wasn’t revolutionary. It wasn’t monetized. It didn’t involve scalpels or stethoscopes. It was simple:

I started a blog.

Not a medical blog. Not an academic blog. A space where I could write about whatever I wanted — absurd thoughts, reflections on everyday moments, short stories, random bits of humor, and even poems I never intended anyone to read.

It was the one space where I didn’t have to be a future doctor. I could just be… me.

Why It Worked When Everything Else Didn’t

• It gave me control: In med school, everything is structured, scheduled, and judged. This project? Mine alone. No grades. No rubrics.
  
  
• It gave me voice: In a system where you spend years repeating what others have taught, this space let me think, question, and express.
  
  
• It gave me perspective: Writing about non-medical life reminded me that the world is so much bigger than OSCEs and USMLEs.
  
  
• It gave me joy: Pure, unfiltered joy. Not tied to success or performance. Just creation.
  

The Side Project Didn’t Just Distract Me — It Anchored Me

When burnout loomed, when imposter syndrome whispered that I didn’t belong, I had a lifeline. I had something that reminded me of my worth outside of my GPA. It helped me decompress after brutal exams and emotionally draining rotations.

I often wrote during stolen minutes — on the train, before bed, or during weekend breaks. These tiny acts of rebellion felt like sanity. Like resistance against being swallowed whole by the system.

And it wasn’t just about me. Eventually, others found my words. Classmates would quietly say, “That post about feeling numb after night shifts? I felt that.” Or “I laughed so hard at your story about calling your attending ‘mom.’”

Connection. That’s what side projects do — they build bridges in a world that can otherwise feel isolating.

Not Every Side Project Needs to Be a Startup

Sometimes we think side projects must be monetized, productive, resume-enhancing. But that defeats the point. The best side projects are:

• Fun
  
  
• Low pressure
  
  
• Identity-restoring
  
  
• Outside your professional scope
  

Whether it’s:

• Playing music
  
  
• Painting or sketching
  
  
• Starting a meme page
  
  
• Learning a language
  
  
• Creating silly educational videos
  
  
• Baking and posting it anonymously
  
  
• Running a low-key community page
  

…it matters.

It Gives You Something School Can’t

Med school teaches you how to save lives. Side projects remind you how to live your own.

How to Find or Start Yours

1. Pick something that lights you up — not something to pad your CV.
   
   
2. Make it easy to start — 10 minutes a day counts.
   
   
3. Don’t aim for perfection — aim for consistency.
   
   
4. Protect it from academic guilt — it is productive… just not in the way medicine defines it.
   
   
5. Share it only if you want to. Some things are sacred. Private. Yours alone.
   

What It Taught Me About Being a Better Doctor

Ironically, this non-medical outlet made me better at medicine:

• I became more empathetic.
  
  
• I learned to communicate better.
  
  
• I remembered how to listen — to myself and others.
  
  
• I stopped tying my worth to external validation.
  

And above all? I started enjoying medicine again — because I wasn’t using it to define my entire self.

To Every Med Student Out There Feeling Like You’re Drowning

Here’s your permission to find that one thing that’s just yours. The thing no professor grades. The thing you don’t have to be good at. The thing that makes you feel more alive.

It doesn’t take hours. It doesn’t need funding. It just needs a sliver of space to grow.

Because sometimes, saving your mental health doesn’t look like therapy or meds (though both are valid). Sometimes it looks like painting dragons at 2 a.m. or editing funny videos with your cat in them.

Your humanity is not a distraction. It’s the whole point.

Keep it alive — one side project at a time.