I want to start by saying I had big plans for this blog. I’ve definitely fallen victim to Oberscheduling recently (a phenomenon you can read about in Julia’s recent blog) and it has resulted in a whirlwind of a semester. I spent the first half of the semester totally oberwhelmed and stressed out all the time about all my commitments.
Consequently, as fall break was coming to an end, I had this whole idea that I was going to completely revolutionize my relationship to life on campus. I was going to (1) dedicate myself to being grateful and joyous about everything around me, (2) set aside time to thoroughly complete every reading I was assigned for class, and (3) write an incredible blog about my beautiful mid-semester mindset shift.
Unfortunately, life had other plans. The first week back from break, I was too busy implementing my mindset shift to write about it, and the second week of November there were other national events transpiring. It seemed sort of inappropriate—and frankly, dishonest—to write a blog about being joyous and grateful immediately following the election. By the third week after break I had already gotten bogged down in the... obercommitment of it all and I wasn’t even really convinced of my own mindset shift anymore.
Now here I am, on November 30th, writing a blog about mid-semester happenings even though there are barely a few weeks of classes left. I’ve been taking a lovely break from schoolwork over Thanksgiving break, and I’m ready to recommit myself to the mindset (with a few edits), despite the current lack of mid-semesterness.
So, finally, here’s what the mid-semester end-of-semester mindset shift entails:
- Sleep is top priority! No more staying up late on school nights, even when it’s fun.
- Journal whenever possible. Focus on gratitude, if relevant.
- Take vitamin D supplements. It gets dark early nowadays.
- Maximum five minutes of complaining/moping each day. It can be hard and stressful to be oberscheduled (especially during finals season), but I want to focus on how lucky I am to have all of these opportunities every day instead.
- Try to deprioritize activities that don’t bring me joy, within reason.
I guess, if you take anything from this blog, let it be a renewed focus on self-care as the year comes to an end. I’ve realized after being on break this week that I’ve been careening dangerously close to burnout territory, and I really need to reprioritize if I want to get through the next two weeks unscathed. I’m definitely ready for a longer break, but I’m also super excited to come back to campus for Winter Term and have close-to-nothing scheduled. Hopefully that will also give me a lot more time for blogging :P
