December Post: Wrap Up (SoMuchStuffSoMuchStress)

      This semester has been one that has been both intellectually stimulating, physically exhausting, and moving. There's been a ton of things that we as graduate teaching assistant, for two of us graduate debate assistants, and instructors have to do: grade papers, prepare daily lesson plans, get our students engaged, study for our classes, do immense amounts of work for particular classes (cough-rhetorical theory), and read for all three classes.  Although this is a lot of work, ultimately we can handle it. Additionally, we as graduate students-in my opinion-have learned coping mechanisms that have allowed us to deal with these things. For instance, getting up early, doing some physical activity, and getting read for your day will help you with all these things, and more. I think that in this context (i.e. graduate school) these things are necessary.
      As someone who previously dealt with depression, there is a large risk that it will come back. This, combined with graduate school, can be a problematic permutation. However, when we implement these things-physical activity, healthy eating, vitamins, and other things-we can cope with all this stuff and all this stress. I also think that all of these things are healthy in their own way. For example, when we have a large workload and a limited amount of time to do these things, we learn time management, strategic thinking, critical thinking, and efficiency. I think that all these skills ultimately help us with all this stuff, and all the stress.
     This leads into my last point, which is that this is a cyclical cycle. For example, we got into grad school knowing that this is a lot of stress, and a lot of work. However, to manage that, we will do physical activity, take vitamins, talk with one another, and so on. As the semester progresses, we will learn how to strategically think and critically think about our situations. If we give ourselves to this non-physical semester, I think that we will do well. I think that this is especially true as we go out into our next graduate semester. I've learned a lot, and I think that one reason that I was able to cope with all this stuff, and all the stress, was because I 'gave' myself to the semester.