Back To School Musings - 5 Ways I Cope With Challenging Semesters

SCHOOL MUSINGS - Coping with Challenging Semesters

OK... Sighhhhhh. Here we go again. It's that time again to say goodbye to sleeping 14 hours straight, being able to wake up 3pm in the afternoon, being able to do whatever you wanted more or less, the masses are back to school. So I've only been back to two full days now and I am already counting down the days until my next vacation >_< The work just doesn't stop. How ridiculous it seems to me sometimes that I willingly and quite anxiously (with bated breath and all), signed up for this oh-so-lovely degree back in 2010. Don't get me wrong, I love the field and all (wouldn't be going through this torture privilege if I didn't love it), but I just wish sometimes the work made more sense :/

But anyhow, we're all back to school, back to the grind. After enjoying three weeks vacay, I really really really wish I could have had two more weeks :/ Thoroughly enjoyed the holiday season, relaxing and doing whatever my little contented heart desired, so I shouldn't really want more than that.... but then again I'm only human so there you go. No matter how I try to shake the feeling though, I have a feeling this semester is going to be a pain in the derriere so I've decided to develop a few coping mechanisms, here is a five (5) things from my list of things:

1) Prayer:

Admittedly I'm not the most 'religious' of people (hardly attend Church, don't read the Bible everyday)... but after a good, honest prayer session I feel most enlightened and refreshed, it really does wonders yall.

2) Scheduling school tasks and hobbies:

This really helps keep me organized, I get more stuff done if I put them on a list because I like crossing out stuff, makes me feel all accomplished and whatnot ^_^ Even made myself a little timetable of activities from now until the end of this short semester, posted it on my workspace wall (using pretty post-its of course, because pretty colours = absolutely awesome).

3) Being present and punctual in class: 

Sighhh, no words on this, if you know me personally, you know being present and on time has always been quite a task for me so we'll just wait and see how long I can keep this up >_< But it's also important to be actively present in the class because zoning out half the lecture just defeats the purpose of waking up early and going to class in the first place :/

4) Drinking more coffee:

Yes, I am an advocate for coffee. It's not like I drink it everyday and night, but I do appreciate the benefits of being able to stay awake longer than I would otherwise be able to do naturally. This way, it just might be easier to stay awake and alert in class. I usually use it on those days that NEVERRRR seem to end >_<

5) Have regular dance parties:

If you are not aware of what dance parties are, that's quite okay young grasshopper, you can easily catch up. I have been having dance parties since forever (yes, even before Meredith and Christina) and it's basically putting your radio/favourite Youtube mix on max volume and dancing like you have not a care in the world for 10-15 minutes or until you get dizzy, whichever comes first. This has added benefits of keeping you active and in shape, plus it's loads of fun too.

So yeah, those are some oldies I've been doing since Year 1 and some new stuff that I'll be trying to adhere to. In the end, I only want to finish Year 3 with my sanity in tact. That is all. That is my only wish. Everything else is secondary and is sure to fall in place. A challenging semester is ahead so I'm going to do myself a favour and use all the help I can get.

NB: I was supposed to put some pics in this blog, but I've got PBL to do... so another time for that I guess.