January 2016 – Stuck in a Textbook

making space

coffee

Life moves quickly. Although that’s painfully obvious, it became even more apparent to me earlier this week.

I realized that deadlines will always exist. Work and school will not be slowing down– at least not any time soon. Dozens and dozens of tasks and people will always be clamoring for attention, and the to do list will always be forever long.

However, that is not a valid excuse to neglect relationships. At the end of the day, it’s not going to matter what your GPA of profession is. People will remember how you treated them, and how you made them feel. And they’ll definitely remember you repeatedly blowing them off.

But all too often I forget this. I devote hours and hours to practicing organic chemistry problems, and then feel guilty if I choose to watch a movie with my roommates, or volunteer. It shouldn’t be that way.

Being driven and work oriented is valuable. But it is only valuable because it opens doors to serve others. Serving others– that’s the entire point!

Having downtime is valuable too. Constantly striving for As, volunteering, working, and keeping up with friends wears a person out eventually. Sometimes you need to put down the textbook, and go to the gym. Or read a book. Or take a nap. (Which is another thing that I forget!)

Balance. That’s already such a hard thing to find, even as a silly undergrad.

Tress

mini blog: a week in

Processed with VSCOcam with t1 preset — PSA: Saturdays are meant for slippers and vanilla chai tea

The first week of school ended yesterday afternoon, at 4:30. I’m feeling pretty pumped for this semester, and all of my classes seem interesting. We’re learning about nuclear magnetic resonance spectra in orgo, and I love it. (Mass spec and IR spectra were my favorite thing about last semester… It’s like solving a chemical mystery!)

Today will be spent in sweatpants, drinking coffee and catching up with some lady friends. I hope that everyone else’s first week back was both fun and productive.

Tress

snowed in

Processed with VSCOcam with f2 preset

I woke up this morning to a snow dusted world, and no electricity. After discussing it, my sister and I agreed that our lack of power relieved us of any pretense of productivity. So we lit candles, changed back into pajamas, and snuggled in for some rare pleasure reading.

Today is one of my last days at home– at least for a while. I move back in Tuesday, and classes begin Wednesday. The closer we get to the beginning of the semester, the more anxious I feel. I am eager to work hard, but the amount of tasks that need to be accomplished (and accomplished well) is slightly worrisome.

Spring semester will be interesting. Perhaps even Wild.

That was a terrible pun.

I’ll show myself out.

Tress

reflection

2015 was such an insane year of growth. The past six months, in particular, have been such a character stretching period. I think entering my twenties was somewhat sobering, and kind of forced me to reevaluate where I was, versus where I wanted to be.

I stepped out of my comfort zone more frequently this year, and learned to take chances. Even though it was scary at times, good always came from it– even if I was uncomfortable at first. Being bold brought about wonderful opportunities, as well as a couple of (now very) dear friends.

I also learned that the choices I make now have a huge bearing on my future. Realizing this forced me to become more accountable with my time, and increased my work ethic. I also started doing my laundry regularly, which was a huge plus. 😉

As dorky and cliche as it sounds, I feel like I became more of my own person this year. I joined a new church family, and my faith became my own. (I’ve always been a Christian, but I think I ‘leeched’ off of my family’s faith before). I also learned that I definitely feel called to the medical field, and that I am capable of success.

I am not creating resolutions this year, but I do want to enter 2016 with a sense of boldness. I want to be bold in investing time in people, and bold in pursuing my future career. I want to be bold in His future plans for me, and to love and serve His people without restraint.

It’s going to be a great year.

Tress