A moment of respite

I am writing this at about 2:30 Saturday morning.  I have had a pretty busy year this year,  normally I love April as school seems to wind down, but a series of maladies has left me behind both at school and on my own graduate classes I am taking.  These last four weeks have been especially hectic, intensifying up to the last two weeks that just ran into one big week.  

My graduate work really intensified as I was working on my last paper of the semester, overlapping with a lot of after school activities that I could not avoid, really cutting into my time.  Worse, my assigned topic was sufficiently vague that I only loosely knew what I was doing.  I emailed my professor (this is a distance-learning course), but he still has not replied.  Last night I went ahead and submitted my paper as-is and felt a tremendous relief.

This post is not to complain meaninglessly.  Rather I wanted to give a great big thanks to everyone who in anyway interacted with me over the last few weeks.  During this time the only “me-time” has been about 3:00-5:00 each morning when I get up to look at Permies.  This has become a therapeutic part of my day.

So again, thanks.  You may not have known it at the time, but you have all been very helpful for me.

Eric

Hi Eric,

It appears you already know this concept, but I will reinforce it anyway.  I used to teach an introduction to graduate school class for working adults.   One of the points stressed was the need to protect “me” time.   Even if it is only 15 minutes a day ( and longer would be better), guard it.  It is not being selfish; it is basic survival.  Of course “me” time is time for yourself ..not family, work, school, etc. I learned that those students who did not respect their me time did much worse in school.  When I get involved in school, I set my alarm 1/2 hour earlier and chill with a cup of coffee or two.

John, that is sound advice.

I have inadvertently fallen into that pattern already.  I typically rise at 3:00 am.  This is not at all stressful or exhausting for me.  Like you, I get my coffee—3 cups in my case—and slowly wake up, maybe listen to music quietly, read Permies, or just look out the window and watch the sun rise.  All of this I do in the dark as it reinforces the “me” in the time.  There are fewer distractions.

My wife rises at 5:20 at which point “me time” is over.  

Thanks for the reinforcement,

Eric

I grudgingly check my grades this morning for the class where I just finished the paper that was giving me so much grief.  It was worth 18% of my total grade.  Somehow, I got all 18%.  I can only assume that the professor was distracted; had a great deal of sympathy; made an error in judgement; maybe thought I was someone else; or perhaps some other reason I cannot imagine at this moment.  Whatever the case, I will just take my grade, count my lucky stars and consider myself fortunate.

Eric

Congratulations!! I can almost hear the deep exhalation from here, well done!

Thanks Mercy.

I think I let out a pretty profound, unmistakable exhale as I hit "submit" on the screen after I uploaded the paper.  It is a relief to be over that hurdle.  The class itself was not so bad, but the work was back-loaded so the last couple of weeks were busy even before I had school activities that I had to attend in the evening.  I appreciate your congrats.

Eric