Well what can I say other than...thank goodness!!!
I honestly never thought I would be so happy to be 3/4 of the way done with a course.
I am just not a 3-d visual person. Very frustrating. When things are in one position and I do not have to rotate them in my mind I am fine. The minute the structure is turned in a different direction or a different orientation than what I am used to looking at it in lab in and guess what...word salad.
I am going to try some new strategies for the last unit practical exam but if any one has any tips on how to make 3-d deficient me more 3-d oriented I would forever be grateful.
Someone asked me recently when I study. I can honestly say I get home and study while the kids are doing their homework. I even study while I am working on dinner, even if it is just to read over notes or re-listen to a lecture or look at an atlas but I am always doing something. I take a break for dinner and I study after dinner until it is time for the kids to go to bed. Some nights I help get them to bed and others I do not, it depends on what is coming up the next day and how much work I have to do. Then after everyone is in bed, I am up studying. I am typically a 7-8 hour per night but I have learned to live on less, I typically go to bed between 11pm and 12am most nights and I am up between 5:30am-6:00 am in the morning.
Coffee is my friend :)
But then during lunch, I am studying. During any free down time at school (if a class ends early) I am studying.
This is all about making the most of every minute you have because the moments you do have are so rare. And of course, it has been very important to me to maintain some sense of normalcy with my family, we still do things together. This means I work harder during the week so that we can take Saturday afternoon for lunch together as a family, or we can celebrate my son's birthday this weekend with my family.
This whole journey is about choices. You can have your cake and eat it too but you just have to work harder to get to the cake. It is about balance. If you are all school all the time you will go insane.
Now there have been times when I have been ready to give up, when I have wanted to go into the Dean's office and see about deferring until next fall. There have been times when my plate has not only been full but overflowing, there have been times when everything has gone wrong, there have been so many challenges and so many chances to rise to the occasion.
I could not have made it this far without my family, bless them for being understanding, bless them for being there, bless them for listening when I am at my breaking point and bless them for letting me know it will be okay.
Almost 4 months left to the end of my first year, and I would not change a thing.
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