When the Going Gets Tough...

"A man has always to be busy with his thoughts if anything is to be accomplished. "
-Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

I would love to apologize a hundred times over for my lazy blogging habits the past few months, but when I began this new semester in a different town at a different school, I did NOT see this coming! Who would have guessed that college gets harder the further along you are... What's that you say? Everyone knows that?? Hmm...

Needless to say, I've been busy. I just finished up my stage managing position, but my theatre days aren't over yet... I'm now on the costume board of the upcoming Spring production, having spent my Saturdays hand-stitching cardboard onto a sweatshirt, sitting for four hours at a time. Outside of that, literally every second that I have not been at school or play practice/tech, I have been doing homework. That is not really an exaggeration. Even now, I'm foregoing homework to catch up with all of you!

So what do you do when you're this busy and stressed out?? Here are a few of my go-to strategies:

1) Don't forget to eat! Science has proven this, folks! No matter how tough times are, you must get a good meal to keep your brain engaged and to keep yourself from the dreaded HANGRY monster (that is, when you are so hungry you become angry... we've all been there). Bottom line: you quit eating, you die.

2) Cry. A lot. Preferably at the very end of the day when you're supposed to be sleeping, and after staying up way late into the wee hours of the morning, trying to get things done. Just let it out... 

3) Only slightly prioritize. Tend to the things that must be done first before the later due things, but of those things you must have done tomorrow, treat them all as if they're the most important. Don't tell yourself that just because you got one thing done, you can slack on the rest. You can't.

4) Take time-outs. I strongly recommend working on everything until it's done and you can go to bed, but during those long hours that you're working, take intermissions. My recommendations? Netflix. I like to watch old episodes of The Hills, personally (drama, drama, drama). An episode of a TV show without commercials is only about 20 minutes, and in that time, you can grab a snack and refuel for the next act of business!

5) Pray. Now, I know this is listed as Number 5, but I don't mean that as least important. If anything, it's at the end so it will stick with you more. While you may want to pray, meditate, whatever your spirituality prefers anyway, it is especially important to pray during the hard times. Not only does it calm you down, but I'm really confident that it increases productivity ten-fold... try and disprove that, science! But really... give it a whirl.

This has been my brief intermission in my hectic day, brought to you by North Dakota State University. Join me next time for our regularly-scheduled blog session. Thank you and good night... or afternoon... or morning...