Make time for a slice of humble pie.

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I've always been busy, always been running around campus, whether I had meetings to go to or textbooks to study. My first semester of college has been a whirlwind, but the first month of my second semester has already been ten times more hectic than the beginning of the year.

On top of studying, writing, editing, and planning, I have also taken up exercising. I have always wanted to make exercising a more routine thing, but I constantly fell back on the excuse that "I didn't have time."

But then I realized. The hour (well, more like two..or three hours) I spend procrastinating on Tumblr or Twitter can be spent at the gym. Not only do I make good use of my time by getting fit, but I also get energized and become happier. I actually find myself feeling enthusiastic about going to the gym and looking forward to it at the end of the day. Endorphins are some hell of a hormone!

Despite my added burst of energy, I am still exhausted by the end of the day. Slipping underneath my covers after a long day is such an appreciated luxury. It's relaxing yet agonizing, since I know that the next day will only be the same cycle of craziness I had experienced all day.

Fridays (to many college students) are usually meant for weekend hurrahs that include excessive drinking and/or super short body-conscious skirts. My Friday consisted of going to the gym, buying granola bars and strawberries at the supermarket, watching Merlin, and then catching the Zs by 11:30. Ohh yes, I went to bed before midnight on a Friday night. I couldn't dream of something like this in high school.

I have a tendency to ramble about how busy and tired I always am to my roommate. "Oh I always have these meetings, these workshops, these deadlines, etc. etc." She always comments on how quickly I fall asleep at night, since it takes her hours to fall asleep. A busy, working body has made me drift to sleep like a baby.

I thought about the way that I would drag on about my priorities and obligations, and how I would laud my to-do list as a blessing and a burden. And I realized that...I am not special for being busy. Everyone is busy. Everyone has things to do. I am not the only one who rarely has breathers anymore. My roommate is busy (though she claims that she is nowhere as busy as me), my professors are busy, my TAs are busy, my classmates are busy, the school faculty is busy. I shouldn't single myself out as such a hard-working, busy person because...well...I'm not the only one. There are many people who have so much more to do in so much less time than me.

And it's all rather humbling. Knowing that I'm one of many with dreams, with obligations, with a life. We're all working it all out at our own pace. And there's nothing wrong with that.

Strength in the strangest of places.

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Every morning I make a habit of reading some of the news on the internet before getting a copy of The New York Times when I leave my building. Today, in between bites of peach oatmeal and sips of French vanilla coffee, I read a BBC News article about the psychology of shopping. I naturally was intrigued by the article, and I realized that the analysis seems rather...obvious. At least to me of course. I could definitely relate to the psychological ideas that the experts explained, especially these parts:

Most shoppers attach greater significance to potential loss - missing out on a bargain - than they do to a reward like having bought something that was needed. The purchaser thinks if they don't buy the item at that instant they might miss out entirely, Graves explains.

But if a shopper hasn't gone through a rational process because of time constraints or other elements of stress, they may feel guilt or anxiety, referred to as "buyer's remorse", explains Dr Denison.

It's interesting how something so "asinine" as shopping can have so much emotional consequences. As I thought about what I had just read, I realized that the indescribable itch to spend money that I used to have has been well controlled as of late. Since coming back to school, I have not spent my money frivolously on mocha lattes and steak burritos, and I did not buy any clothes on my most recent trip downtown. Where did this will power come from? Perhaps it's from the profound realization that my bank account is not as healthy and plump as it used to be. Whatever it is, I'm quite impressed by my progress so far. Money saved now will be money spent on fine chocolates and satin scarves when I vacation in France this summer.

Now if only I had the same strength to stop procrastinating on all of my school work...