University overload - the balancing act

University

What instantly comes to mind when you think of university? Fun? Excitement? Parties? Try again. Although I must mention POST GRADUATE university. Those two words hit me like a cold frying pan across the cheek. Post graduate studies are linked not with any of the above descriptions, but of stress, anxiety, overload and lack of time. Ironically, I am spending time writing a blog, but it suddenly dawned on me that to appreciate the good, you must have some awareness of bad. So it seemed that writing this down, will help me appreciate how good life is, once I've moved past this!

Moving past - one thing I have tried over and over to drill into my head. This is temporary. God knows, time does not stop moving, so this too will pass; or so I keep reminding myself.

This past month (and now an additional week) I've spent zero weekends 'having fun'. Every weekend is the same mechanical routine of waking up, turning on the laptop, and then engaging in a varying range of mind-numbing tasks such as a reading, analysing or writing up findings into a cohesive essay.

So I try to cram, cram cram and then set myself aside an hour or so to spend as free time. Sounds great doesn't it? I work long hours all week teaching and planning or attending various meetings, work all weekend for a couple of hours off per week...  This is when it dawned on me: I will never tick everything off of my to do list, I will never be completely done with a particular aspect of university work, but equally I will never have to study a post graduate certificate in education ...EVER again. So, with the knowledge that there is in essence a sell-by date on this year, isn't it better to just focus on the end, rather than let the stress get the better of you?

For this reason, I got up extra early this morning. Joe and I decided to go for a walk by the sea. The plan was to get bacon sandwiches from a nearby cafe for brekkie by the beach, but due to the cafe being shut, we ended up walking and then cooking our own bacon at home. This ensured a positive start to my day, and am feeling ready to tackle the challenge of uni work as a result.


                                                                              *
I guess what I'm trying to say is, no matter how hard life gets it's important to remember that it's just a phase for a time or while, and that it's absolutely vital to reflect on and remember the things that do make you happy - and do those things, even if it's just squeezing in something as simple as a 20 minute walk and a bacon sarnie.

Always try to maintain the balance, and remember you are in control - because if you allow one aspect of life to weigh too heavy on your shoulders, it becomes much more difficult to balance; to manage, leaving yourself set up for an unnecessary fall.