Tuesday, November 24

Yesterday was hard. Classwork has been piling up and I think all of us grad students are just starting to realize how many weeks we have left of school (3- I believe). NO TIME AT ALL! There is a lot of work to be done in this very short amount of time and, if I can be fully honest, there has been some procrastination on my part! I started every project that I need to turn in, but I haven't yet finished. This realization led me to have high levels of anxiety yesterday, and going to bed the night before all I could think was, "please, please let class be cancelled tomorrow for SOME reason, any reason!" But, class was not cancelled, and as it turns out working with the kids actually helped me to calm down and remember why I am in this program to begin with.

Still, I couldn't help but be bothered by certain things teachers were doing and saying while I was there. I got through the day by pouring myself into correcting work, copying, and helping the children with questions they had. By the end of the day I realized that I had made it, and I could stand to stay there a few more hours. But the best surprise of the day occurred when my mentor teacher told me that I could leave early (at 3pm) because she had some personal meetings to attend! I was so relieved and thankful, I needed to get the stress out of my body so badly so I went to the place where I knew I could make that happen, the gym.

Anyway, after I left the gym I went home and dedicated the night to relaxing because I knew that I wasn't going to be able to do much of that this weekend (even though it is Thanksgiving weekend). The night ended fine, and I felt a lot better about my workload after evaluating what I had to do, organizing my time, and making goals for myself (I did this during my relaxing night in order to prepare myself for the weekend). I think the main reason I chose to put this down in writing is because I find that it is extremely important to stop and take a break if you are overwhelmed and stressed and it is affecting the way you are at school or work. If I didn't stop and take a break for myself I would burn out big time! After re-energizing, even though I've lost one day of work, I find that I can accomplish more, and faster.

So, if you are like me and are experiencing some sort of stress in your life which is affecting your daily routine than stop. Take a breathe. And do something for yourself.