First Day of Classes: Barely Slept, But Devised a Study Plan for Week One

If anxiety were a person, you would be looking at me.

I didn’t fall asleep until 6 am this morning and had to be awake to catch the bus at 10:15.

The first thing I did when I arrived on campus was get my student ID, borrow a graphing calculator, and obtain a free bus pass, which is really nice to have!

After that, I spent about 2+ hours at the library studying before heading home, taking 30 minutes to breathe before taking my first philosophy quiz and reviewing my stats class.

I am taking 19 credits this quarter. It’s what the advisor ‘ordered’. I won’t lie and say my anxious thoughts weren’t about how much work I might have over the next three months.

Well, that and the fact that Milli Vanilli’s song ‘Baby Don’t Forget My Number’ kept playing between my ears every time I closed my eyes last night.

I guess having the song on repeat after watching the movie ‘Front of the Class’ wasn’t a great idea.

Building Out My System for Studying

With all that said, I have written down a system and will be testing it this week. 10-3 will be spent studying for my psychology and philosophy classes on campus; then I will come home, rest for an hour, and from 5-7, it’s all Stats.

If I can break subjects up into chunks and allocate time to each, I think I’ll be okay.

I also don’t mind abandoning the system for another if it doesn’t work out. It’s all about adjusting to what is as the quarter moves along.

Good grades are the byproduct of compounded efforts

Another important thing I need to remember is that the results I wish to have are going to be the byproduct of my compounded efforts.

Whatever I do in the moments of each day during study sessions will build upon each other.

As long as I am putting in the hours, the results I seek should become the byproduct.

The hard part is going to be reminding myself of this when times get a bit rough and taking moments to breathe as the coursework advances through the quarter.

Often times we forget that even during moments of feeling overwhelmed, our system might still be working. Sometimes we confuse our panic with systematic failure because we are in our own heads.

I am learning to understand the difference between what my sense of reality is versus what actual reality is.

I could be thinking I am drowning, but my system could be in full effect already, buoyancy-ready, and I just have to get out of my own head.

With that said, I am signing off; it is now 8:24pm and I am exhausted.

Update: I also found out if there is a student microwave in the student cafe/bookstore and there is one! I am able to bring my frugal pasta. This will also allow me to stick to my ‘broke student grocery budget.’