The Pizza that Broke the Student's Back (Aimee)

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Hello and welcome, my blog-reading pals!

Seeing that we’ve reached the business end of Semester 2, I thought it would be nice to start this post with some meditation… that’s right, meditation! Because, let’s face it, life can sometimes be as fast-paced as a Vin Diesel action movie. And, even though we can’t rewrite Fast and Furious, it’s comforting to know that we can always hit the pause button!

So, put away your cringey-sceptic face and let’s begin! Wherever you are (wouldn’t it be a stroke of brilliance if you were doing this in a lecture theatre?!?) I want you to sit with your legs crossed… or maybe lie down… or lie down with your legs crossed and a paper bag over your head, if you must! Now, close your eyes and take a couple of deep breaths. With each breath-out, release whatever worries are floating around in your head. Now repeat, “I am not the body. I am not the mind. I am eternal love.” Just for fun, take another deep breath, vibrate those vocal cords and say, ‘OM……!” All done? Good!

I don’t know about you, friends, but I’ve definitely had to channel my inner Zen Buddhist these past few weeks!  As an Arts student, I was promised a few hours of class a week, with most of my time free… free to drink lemonade… through a windy straw…with a cute little umbrella attached…on a beach… on a far-away tropical island. (Okay, maybe they didn’t promise me the umbrella!) The point is, I came to uni expecting a healthy work-life ratio.

This semester, however, things changed. I decided to take both Italian and Psychology, which each involve 5-6 hours of class a week, plus plenty of homework. If that wasn’t enough, due to the gods of university timetabling, my schedule included three 9am-6:15pm days a week… which meant leaving home at 8am and returning at 7pm…with hardly any breaks between classes… Are you starting to get the idea?

By week 3, I was diabolically whacked! Every day, I had to leave my alarm clock on the other side of the room, just to force myself out of bed. Even then, getting up in the morning made me want to punch my alarm clock… and smash it into a million pieces… and burn the pieces… and destroy the ashes in a melting pot of lava! I was starting to speak my own special language (which only the severely sleep-deprived or Biomed students will understand!) and fall asleep in the middle of class. Worse still, things which used to be easy (like trips to the supermarket) began to seem overwhelmingly hard. In a few short weeks, I had become the walking definition of a ‘place-all-over-the-head’.

In vain, I went to medical experts, expecting to be diagnosed with some kind of rare tropical disease. Actually, the only thing wrong with me was a bad case of burn-out.

The climax came when I was on my knees, trying to shove my home-made veggie-lovers pizza into our desperately over-crowded fridge. After the third attempt, there was a food-avalanche! Suddenly, I was snowed under by a wave of decaying risotto and some left-over mould with a bit of pizza on it.  My poor house-mates had to, quite literally, pick me up off the floor and brush me down, while I wept tragically over the imminent demise of my pizza! In that heart-rending and, at the same time, vomit-inducing moment, I realised how awful I was feeling. It was like I was no longer a complete human-being. My identity had been reduced to student no. 833803. It just took a bit of mouldy pizza to help me make the link!

Twenty-four hours before the census date, I did what I should have done in week 1. I dropped a subject. The following weekend, I spent my entire Saturday in bed.

I told you last week that you should be open to new experiences and pursue your dreams, whatever the risks. All of that’s true. However, knowing your limits is important, too. So is making time for the non-academic things which really matter to you. If something seems like too much, it probably is.

The road back to fully-charged is a long one and I still sometimes feel so under-pressure that I just want to curl up in a ball. Recognising that I was slowly mutating into a zombie, however, definitely helped! As did reducing the load.

So, to all of you at school, uni or work who are working too hard and potentially burning-out – you have my blessing to hit the pause button on life and take some much-needed rest!

Meanwhile, this blogger is going to descend upon the proverbial hay and catch some z’s.

Goodnight, sweet blog-readers!

Aimee

 

 

 

 

One thought on “The Pizza that Broke the Student's Back (Aimee)

  1. Thank you for sharing your journey with us. Taking a break, reducing your load, catching up on sleep and giving yourself time out are vital yet often neglected elements in a concentrated 12 week semester. It’s wonderful to hear you’ve made the journey back to ‘fully charged’. Thank you for reminding us all to do the same.

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