Something about the last few weeks has left me in a constant state of panic. A never ending wave after wave of things to do, commitments to take on, and schedules to fill. Don’t get me wrong, I thrive on being busy. But there comes a time when downtime is required. Lately my schedule has gone a little like this:
5am—Wake up (unintentionally but every day for the last few weeks) and text E for a few minutes since he’s just getting off work.
7:50am—Wake up to take brother to school
8:15am—coffee run
9am—get to school start studying (or go to class if it’s Thursday)
11am—Class. Deal with first crisis of the day. (Yesterday’s was finding out that my group has to redo our entire psychology study because one of our group members didn’t show up, then insisted we redo the entire thing so they can be there for it. Because I wanted to spend an extra two hours on a project I already did. Thank you)
12pm—Go to library. Eat whatever protein bar/salad/leftovers I grabbed that morning and study some more.
1pm—Deal with second crisis of the day. Usually that I can’t find something I need for homework, or get ahold of someone who I need info from.
3pm—Back to class.
5pm—Get home, check blogs/Facebook/unwind.
6pm—Start any homework I haven’t gotten out of the way for the next day.
7pm—Talk to E for a few minutes before he goes to work.
7:30pm—Deal with third crisis of the day. (Usually again involving school. Do you see the trend? I would be SO STRESS FREE if I could just graduate already.)
11pm—Try to go to bed.
I’m going to be completely honest. I stress a lot, and I stress bad. About everything. There have genuinely been times where I’ve gotten so anxious about everything, then remember stress causes wrinkles, and start stressing about that. Irrational. One of the most beneficial things about being a psych major has been that I’ve learned a lot about why I process my anxiety in such a way, and how to cope with it. Because I’m a type A, obsessive, perfectionist. Attractive, right? And when I feel like I can’t get everything done, I give up. Which means nothing gets done, I get more anxious and it’s a never ending cycle. For me, I thrive on scheduling things and making lists so I know I’m on the right track of being productive. I know it drives E insane, because I’m constantly nagging him for exact times we’re going to do stuff, but I’ve learned to go with the flow, and he’s learned to try to give me times to work with. Part of learning what I need to manage daily has been learning to compromise within my relationship so we both don’t go insane.
My wall calendar is color coded so that I can look at it quickly and know what I have going on, whether it’s pageant, school or social related. I also carry a planner in my purse, but only color code school things in there. So assignments I need to bring are one color, tests are another, and meetings are another. It’s easier for me to visualize things later on when I have colors associated with them.
I wrote last week about how over-whelming being constantly plugged in can be. And the best trick I’ve been able to figure out is to just know your limits. Know when being on line is getting to be too much, or when you need to say no to a commitment. At the end of the day, you’re the one who has to actually go through with it, so if it doesn’t fit in your schedule just say no.
To keep up with class stuff, I use my iPad. I have an app that my school uses that holds class syllabus’ and information teachers want to mail out. I always have it with me, so it’s the easiest way to keep all that stuff.
Those little post-it tab things are a study life saver. I use them to mark what chapter I’m on, important things to go back to study, and the little review things at the end of each chapter. You’re going to have to look at it all anyway, so it might as well look pretty.
Is anyone else a worrier like me? How do you deal?
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