I have classes on Mondays and Thursdays every week, and I have additional Monday, Wednesday, and Friday classes that each meet once or twice per month. All of these additional classes met this week, and I had a meeting with a professor, so for several days I was feeling completely overwhelmed. I had quite a bit of extra reading to do and less time to do it in because of the additional class sessions. As always, however, I found a way to get done what needed to be done, and at this time tomorrow, I will have made it through.
Tomorrow I attend the first session of the publications workshop, in which I am the only master's student. I was intimidated even before the professor who leads the workshop stopped me in the office to say, "Your essay will be great for our class to look at, because the rest of them only need surface level changes." Why not just tell me it was the worst?! I keep reminding myself that if I am going to make it in academia, I need to toughen up, and there's no time like the present. My friend Anne-Marie reminds me that you don't learn anything when you're perfectly comfortable. Steve Prefontaine said, "To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." I recognize that being a graduate student is a privilege that very few people get to experience. If I don't get into the PhD program, this year might be my last one in grad school for quite a while, so I owe it to myself to take on everything that interests me, even if it periodically stresses me out. I'm also fortunate to spend my time away from the books with a husband who calms me down, makes me laugh, and reminds me that I don't need to be engaged in "serious study" all the time.
Tonight's Women's US Open Final, which is about to commence, reminds me that sometimes, the hardworking, nice girls finish first. Are there two more likeable personalities in sports than Caroline Wozniacki and Kim Clijsters? When Caro beat Melanie Oudin in the quarters, I couldn't even be upset about it. When Serena came unglued last night, I couldn't help feeling upset that she ruined what otherwise might have been one of the best moments of Kim's career. Time for the match to start!
Jon says that Kim is the first mother/athlete to compete in the finals of a Grand Slam since 1980. And Caroline, of course, among the youngest females. What an inspiration: one athlete who has yet to hit her stride (we hope) and another who has hit it, retired, and returned to max it out. So I figure, pre- or post-stride, we can conquer our grad school challenges :) See you tomorrow!
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