It’s been quite some time since my last post. With the start of school came the anticipated schedule changes, new work and academic loads, and the constant striving to maintain some form of balance and sanity. This led to having to learn how to cope with stress and taught me to rethink my priorities. Because of all this change, my goal to blog twice a month suffered, but now I’m back – and here is the story.
A few weeks into the semester I started to wonder “how am I going to get through all this?” I was becoming over stressed (close to the breaking point) with the pressures and expectations I place on myself. Despair started to set in. Something had to change.
The turning point came a few weeks ago in one of my most overloaded weeks yet. I had multiple projects to do, a load of assignments, and due dates were looming near. I was realizing that I don’t really know what field in Computer Science I really want to go into and the prospect of going to graduate school was becoming more of a reality. Basically, I was stressed, too stressed. I was almost to that level of stress where you’re about to go into the apathetic self-destruct mode, yeah, not a pretty sight.
In this moment I realized I must be doing something wrong. So with a simple sincere prayer, I was able to step back and see. I wasn't studying the scriptures daily, so my reception for heavenly help was being dampened. I wasn't using a schedule, so I was constantly busy but never accomplishing anything. I wasn't dividing my time properly, so things easily crept up on me, causing me to turn assignments and projects in late, fail in responsibilities, and interfere with social opportunities. I was beginning to realize the things that had to change.
During this time, the Lord still blessed me with small tender mercies. A professor took time out of his lecture to discuss graduate school, another talked about time management and how he used certain techniques to maximize the results of his time. Some due dates were pushed back. Enlightening comments were made that helped with understanding projects. These all led me to make a change to the way I was dealing with life.
The Change:
I created a schedule (thank you Google Calendar for the tools and the semesters with Zach Panter for the inspiration) that showed exactly where my time should be going. I placed on it time to work on projects and which projects needed the most attention. I now have a certain time during the day set apart for studying scripture and I guarantee myself 3 workout sessions per week. No matter what - scripture study and working out WILL happen. My physical and mental well being depend on these. My stress level is never too high when these two things are present. Sure my work load still sets personal records, but so help me - my stress level WILL NOT.
The Results:
Since implementing my plan, my stress levels have been kept in check. I have accomplished my tasks on time. I have feel great. I am closer to The Lord. I somehow still have time. Now I just need to stick to my plan, make adjustments as needed, and get ready for the next lesson in life (hopefully it's one that includes a girlfriend... yeah...)
Misc:
I used the title "Annual Stresses" because after looking through my journal entries for last year and the year before - around the months of October, I realized that they all sounded the same "I have no clue how I'm going to get through this week..." In the past I just pushed through them. Hopefully with these changes I'll be better able to handle weeks like those, from now on out.
