9.16.21
(image from Labor Day Weekend 2021)
Feeling motivated to write tonight as I lie in bed thinking about all of the reading that I could be doing instead. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned so far in this journey, it’s that there is always something that I should be doing instead of what I’m actually doing. This includes but is not limited to: eating, sleeping, reading, exercising, or doing something fun.
While many of my cohort-mates thus far are knee deep in projects and readings, I am trying to remain optimistic that my strategy of “work hard, play hard” continues to pay off. And so, I drag myself out of bed every day by 8:00 am, and try to be in the office by 9. It’s work, read, and write until I cannot anymore or I have morning class, lunch, nap, repeat. For not being a morning or a night person, I am much more productive before 3pm; perhaps the product of being a student-athlete. I’ve learned to capitalize on this and get all of my heavy lifting done before I leave campus.
What is really strange to me, though, is having class in the late afternoon. They’re not truly night classes, but three days per week I have class between 3-5:50. It’s just at that perfect, awkward time, where my brain energy levels are dwindling and I want to be outside running around. It has definitely taken some getting used to, as during undergrad, I was usually done by 2:25 or 2:50 at the latest (and I thought that was late!).
I recognize that there will be hard days ahead, but for the moment, I am loving being back in school. Even with all of the flaws and deeply-rooted inequalities within academia, it also provides me with the faintest glimmer of hope and encourages me to keep moving forward, one day at a time. Just happy to be here.
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