Picture this: It is your third year of college and by now, you think you have the swing of things. You buy a new planner each year, write everything down in an effort to be organized, and you think you set aside enough time to do your assignments in a timely manner while also serving your other commitments.
WRONG.
Recently, I have hit this wall and I do not quite know why, or how I got here. My classes have begun to overlap in terms of what I need to do and ~when~ I should be doing it, but for some reason, I can not help but stare at my planner as it lays open on the table. I think it is fair to say we have all been here, and we all have certain remedies for making it better. Some of us need absolute silence, so we go to the library and just crank out mass amounts of work with breaks for tears in between.
Others of us do not operate that way, like me, so we go to our favorite coffee shop (Grounds for Thought), and make to-do lists. After all, two hours of productivity at Grounds is essentially the equivalent of 10 hours of productivity anywhere else, almost like an alternate reality.
What do you do when you do not know what to do though? When everything hits the fan at once and you have no idea what should be on your "to-do now" versus your "to-do later?" Well, for me, it's not that deep. Sometimes all you can say to keep from your second set of tears for the week is to realize how surface level these issues really are, recognize that they are not that deep, and move on.
It is at the point in the semester at universities everywhere, where students are gearing up for their first exams and studying hardcore for midterms they think they might inevitably fail. We meet in the library in study rooms and go over examples for hours, we study the next morning before walking in, we take the exam and we leave. It's not that deep.
Slowing down to recognize the importance of taking things one step at a time, or one day at a time is a great way to put things in perspective. To realize that the things going on around you, the things you need to do, they are all accomplishable and attainable, all you have to do is think. After all, if you have to study for class, complete exercises one – 34, attend a meeting and work a six-hour shift... well, that is only four things. It's not that deep.