Busy

Well, today was the first day of classes, and this semester will do one of two things. It will either force me to grow up and take time management and my duties as a student seriously, or it will break me in half. I'm hoping for the former. Seriously, I think this semester will teach me more about being a teacher than any other semester I've had, and I find this ironic because I am not taking any Education courses this semester.

Basically, I signed up for all literature and creative writing courses. My adviser warned that I might get overwhelmed by the combination of classes, but I assured her that I would be able to make it. Well, now I'm feeling like I should have taken her advice. Because I already have about 200+ pages to read in three different books by Monday, and this was just my first day of classes this week. I'm a slow reader to start with, people.

At the same time, I'm also a really lazy guy. I tend to procrastinate often. I put stuff off and waste my time with trivialities when I could very easily be getting my work done. In other words, I need to "grow up" in that department, and if anything will be helping with that, it will be this semester. I have tough courses, but all of them are engaging. I'm taking them with people I've gotten to know over the past three years (English majors stick together), and I'm far enough along in school that I have professors who I actually like and who actually know what they are doing. That will certainly help. I also, of course, am involved in my usual set of clubs and committees, and I will need to make sure I manage my time to include those as well.

In fact, all of this stuff has already started to take a bit of a toll on me. I had four classes today, two of which were really long once-a-week classes back to back (in the same room, no less!) So I went to the campus coffee shop and for the first time, I actually got coffee. I usually don't drink coffee. I don't drink sodas. I don't like caffeine in my system. But I gave in, and I drank a coffee, and now I am wired beyond reason. Can some coffee connoisseur out there tell me when I can expect these jitters to go away? I'm not completely complaining, because I don't think I've ever written a blog post this quickly before (it really is coming far along much faster than I anticipated), but I would like to be able to, you know, sleep tonight.

I also need to remember to find time for the Lord every day. I will be sacrificing a lot of trivialities this semester (goodbye, online role-playing games! You'll be missed!) But I don't need to be sacrificing my time with Him. I also don't need to put my relationship with God into a schedule. It does not do anything for me to say, "Oh, well, I'll only meditate on Christ between 6:00-7:00 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays." I need to be actively thinking of him, reflecting on Him, and seeking His strength and wisdom all throughout my busy, busy days. I need to be aware of my actions, temptations, and struggles. And somehow do all this while being aware of the 1,000 different things going on around me. Will it be tough? You'd better believe it. But I'm optimistic. After all, goodness knows how much more difficult actual adult life will be once I'm out of college, and yet people keep their relationship with God going, no matter how busy they are.

Well, I think I'm going to go plug all of my syllabuses into a Google calendar. Boy, this will be fun! God bless, everyone!