My case, for instance, and I'm sorry if I get a bit ranty here. I punched my limits in the fall of last year and the stress manifested itself as a baby eating disorder. There were days I needed to force myself to eat because, well, the human body really does need nutrients and calories to function. I lost almost ten pounds and generally felt like shit. Over the course of winter break I got over the anti-eating mechanism (just in time too if you think about it) and began to feel better. However, upon returning to my apartment in January The Beast reemerged from its little hole and while my diet was back to normal and I had the energy to feel emotions normally again, I could no longer sleep. The stress of Being In The City was back; the death echoes of sorts from the semester prior. I'm still figuring out how to deal with this one, but it is getting better (coffee helps, although I did have two panic attacks over the summer, oops).
Anyways, my last first day of classes was today and I found out that the senior capstone class for my major- arguably one of the hardest classes offered at ESF for undergrads- had been upped to 5 credits. One credit is 45 hours of work over the semester here, or 4 a week. So that's more like 20 a week now and this is just a more accurate representation of the time put into it (example: the first assignment is a 10 page paper utilizing 40 references on a single organism such as white-tailed deer. Due the second week of September with proper Journal of Wildlife Management formatting).
Needless to say I dropped an Environmental Journalism class because I know I won't be able to give my all (or even my leg...) and maintain my sanity. Not to mention it's my last chance to have some fun here before becoming An Adult in December with impending graduation.
That was longer than I intended it to be. My apologies. If you read it all you deserve a cookie or something...
Anyways, I've found my limit and do not intend on ever touching it again. I would really like to enjoy my last semester here without losing my mind and maintaining some semblance of mental stability.
Allow me to reiterate: It is ok to not push yourself to your limits all of the time. A person isn't weak if they know when to stop and do so. Now go, and listen to some music I've come across recently that's pretty awesome. :)
Disappearance of the Girl- Phildel
Brighter than Gold- The Cat Empire
Fire Fire- Steam Powered Giraffe
If anyone is starting school of any sorts around this time, I wish you the best of luck, *hugs and kisses and cookies for the road*
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