Setbacks

Finally, 25% of the 16-week semester is already completed! However, I don’t feel proud about the way I’m ending the 25% mark. 

This week (Sep. 19-24), I missed 4 out of 5 school days mainly due to a big lack of sleep. On Monday, I only got around 2 hours of sleep because it was a big day and I was very anxious. I sat at the DMV all morning for a standby drive test but it was worth the wait because I passed! After I got home around noon, I slept through the entire day like a baby. When I woke up late evening, I realized taking that nap was the worst decision in my life because I missed out on an entire day. I couldn’t go back to sleep and I didn’t wanna pull an all-nighter because that would put me at risk of falling asleep on the wheel. With regret, I decided to skip my Tuesday class and recharge. 

Although I was pretty energized to drive myself to school for the first time ever on Wednesday, the energy quickly died down. After missing Monday and Tuesday classes, I had to catch up with a lot of math and science, a.k.a. the world's most hated subjects (at least in my world). And accounting. Numbers on top of numbers. My Friday class was canceled so that gave me a lot more time to catch up, but I still have a lot to do. Of course, I did my best to stay on top of my work for this class no matter what! Yet, I couldn't bring myself to get up early and go to class in person today because there was just too much on my plate and I had to sort everything out. 

I know there will be much more stressful events in the future and I will have to learn to deal with obligations at a manageable pace when unexpected things happen, but I feel content moving forward with knowing I did something than absolutely nothing. 

One Day at a Time

Hi, everyone! If you don't mind sharing, what is something you do your best to keep at? Even if it's small as trying to show up to class on time, it matters just as much because of your effort! 

For me, it's fitness. I don't exercise every single day, but I have been diligently tackling personal wellness goals since this semester started, and a major goal includes being in shape. Recalling from my first post, I underwent immediate surgery in 2019 due to sustaining a hip fracture during military training that affects me to this day because I still walk with a limp. Even though I have done workouts to try and loosen the hip pain, I was simply too scared to continue the routine out of fear that I would sustain another injury, so I simply gave up. The nagging thought of having metal pins and screws to keep my hip together gave me the heebie-jeebies and contributed a big part to why I steered away from working out, but that ended up making the situation worse. 

During the Spring semester this year, I found myself being out of breath so easily when walking up just 1-2 flights of stairs—that's how bad being out of shape was. It hurt to walk on my bad hip because my body had never experienced this change. 2 weeks before the Fall semester started, I had an epiphany out of the blue and decided that enough was enough. After studying moderation in eating, protein intake, and different workout regimens through social media, I was able to build a solid foundation and go from there.

Fast forward to today, this week actually marks 1 month since I started being active again! Rome wasn't built in a day, so I don't expect to obtain drastic results overnight. However, I am very proud of the fact that I can now run for almost 2 miles nonstop.

Morning Rush

When I zone out in my classes, I often think to myself: "how does everyone prepare for the day at such an early time?" 

For me, my school mornings usually start by waking up around 6:30 to 7:30 A.M. to my favorite morning-time song which I use for my alarm tone, "Morning Call" by Hyolyn. 

While it is a favorite song, I don't wake up all sunshine and rainbows because I hate being forced to wake up, but I figured it would do since it's calming as opposed to the default Apple alarm tones. I like to give myself a motivation boost by putting on "makeup", which is just tinted moisturizer with SPF to protect my skin from harmful sun rays and slow down the aging process as much as I can. I only take 1 class on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays but I still make the effort to put myself together on most of those class days because I feel it prepares me for inevitable real-life situations that require me to get ready for quick gatherings. I think keeping a steady morning routine is what keeps me active and I hate the idea of just waking up and dragging myself from home to my destination without being productive.

How I Ended Up Here

Prior to enrolling in CSN, I had no direction where to take myself so I made the decision to aspire to be a nurse like my mother. (Being a nurse/Navy corpsman was my obligation in the military as well but I injured myself during training and got discharged, so I thought it was only right to keep the same goal in the civilian world). After failing Biology and almost other pre-requisite courses, I came to the conclusion that nursing is not the path I am destined to take. As of the Summer 2022 semester, I am now a Business major and I plan on advancing to International Business for my Bachelor's degree. 

I honestly have butterflies in my stomach thinking about my workload this semester, but in the best way. For once in my entire education, I am really willing to dive into IS101, HHP123, MATH124, THTR105, and ACC201. No offense to my past instructors and professors, but English, history, and biology are subjects I cannot get into at all. Especially biology. During lectures, I always zoned out because I don't want to learn about cells.