Hold the Girl

(Title of this post is taken from this excellent Rina Sawayama song)

Hello me of the past,

It’s me – well, you from the future – to tell you that you’ll survive.  A lot will happen in these ten weeks, including things that you wouldn’t expect, but you’ll survive.  You’ll do a lot of things right this quarter: you got involved in things that interested you, no matter how much they may have daunted you and you’ve managed to keep your grades afloat ahead of finals.  You’ll do some things wrong too, though, and that’s okay because you’ll learn from them and become all the better for it.  The quarter system moves faster than you’d expect– plan ahead whenever you can and don’t let yourself fall behind.  I’ll tell you that we’ve slid back into routine by the end of the quarter, but it would be nice if you could get some semblance of order in your life before you start.  Oh, also, it would be really helpful if you started fixing your sleeping schedule; I’m still suffering the consequences now.

You’ll make it through the quarter, though, and that’s all that matters.  It’s time for a break now, and I think you deserve the rest you’ll receive– I’m going to use this time to mend routines, practice hobbies, and try to establish habits that will be helpful next quarter.  One problem we had this quarter is that we had no established routine – we did whatever we wanted whenever we wanted, and that resulted in a lot of things being pushed back later than they should have been.  When we tried to establish order through time blocking and scheduling, we either ended up falling behind on schedule or ignoring it due to an overload of work.  I think it would be good to try to have established hours for work, play, and sleep– that way, you know what you’re supposed to be doing and when you’re supposed to be doing it, even if what you do during those hours varies.

We did fine this quarter, but we’ll do even better in the next; I think that change is always hard, and this change was even harder than normal due to unique, unexpected circumstances (spoiler alert: you get a surgery).  So, during this first quarter, just do your best– spend time doing things you enjoy, don’t waste too much time on (said while shaking fist at the sky) that darn phone, and figure out some sort of system so that you know what things to get them done and when to do them.  Try to create a life that’s comfortable for you– you’ll feel so much better if you don’t avoid that big assignment until the day it’s due, and if you spend your time engaging in hobbies rather than watching another mindless YouTube video.  And most importantly, try to have some fun!

Sincerely,

The me of the present