I know it’s lame. But dang. Classes are seriously getting to me this semester, more than ever before. I don’t even know why– my classes shouldn’t be this bad. But I’m dying nonetheless.
Whelp, just gotta power through it, right?
Tag Archives: stress
How to deal with stress
It’s that time of semester again:
I believe this happens every semester. Where students reach their saturation point, and are ready to go home and drink martinis on the beach. Alas, there is a month left in the semester. What’s a girl to do?
I’m a pretty high-stress person, so over the years I’ve developed a coping mechanism. You know, to keep my sanity.
Most people recommend taking breaks. However, I am far too neurotic for this to work.
In the end, I find that the most effective way to reduce stress is to remove the cause. Meaning I have to get my sh!t done! Or I will never be at peace.
So, to all the students out there? Struggling and stressing and having a rough time of it? GOOD LUCK! YOU CAN DO IT! You’re not the only one trying to make it through the year! Never lose sight of the white sands and pina coladas awaiting you in the near future!
(Actually, I think I just stress out too much. It’s probably just me.)
I am too busy
This is the state I’m in right now: (and in advance, I apologize for the crappier-than-usual-art, unwarranted complaining, utter scrubbiness and general messiness:)
I needed to vent some stress. It’s also my poor excuse for a viable blog post. It’s just that on some days, I barely have enough time to run to my dorm room to grab a snack between classes/working/volunteering, and that’s a little frustrating to me. It’s too easy to complain, though– what I really need to do is suck it up! And stick it out! It’s only a year. I’ll make it through, somehow…
Free time? What’s that?
Some things are eating my time. More like devouring. College kids don’t sleep? Yeah, it’s true. For me, this is for a couple of reasons:
1. My job.My job as an office assistant, more specifically. Though I only work twice between classes and once after class, it’s still, you know, a time commitment.
2. Volunteering. I’m part of the Civil Engagement Program (CEP) a community service initiative that requires students receiving full-tuition scholarships to volunteer at least 100 hours a year. I have to partner up with a local organization and work there at least five hours a week– so I’ll be starting next week with Sociedad Latina. I’ll be designing and teaching a biology curriculum to underprivileged Hispanic girls.
3. School. Naturally. Studying and schoolwork takes priority, and time.
All of these together I could handle pretty reasonably, I think. But then one more– just one more opportunity came by that I couldn’t let slip away.
It began before the school year even started:
I applied for the job and included the link to my own blog. Though I was in the mindset of my sister, who said:
As it turns out, my blog is good for something after all! Just recently, the professor running the study at Northeastern sent me an e-mail:
It’s a long story, but I would basically create a daily comic strip about a character trying to lose weight using the study’s cell phone app. I’m not sure how much more I can reveal, since this is a study-in-progress. More importantly, the professor is conducting the study with researchers from Duke University. If they didn’t approve of his idea of incorporating comics, I would be out of business.
So I created some sample comics and sent them in. And waited nervously for two days…
But then, I got:
So I need to create a year’s worth of strips– 365 comics– ASAP. It’s more or less like creating a newspaper-style daily strip, four panels, black and white, for a year. This is a paying job, which is beyond me– getting paid for drawing? Impossible! So now, I’ve got:
It’s a lot. But I’m too stubborn to give up any of them. I want to do everything! It’s a problem. But I’m super-determined to do this. I can do it. It just means less free time and less shut-eye. I think it’s a fair trade.
