The Friday before a long weekend is always the best. You still have classes to go to so you end up being productive for at least part of the day, but classes usually end early and are less work than normal because profs know that no one is focusing. Plus knowing you have 3 full days of weekend ahead make it that much more ok to accomplish absolutely nothing Friday afternoon. The best part about this coming long weekend is the reason: Islander day. It's the PEI equivalent to Ontario's Family Day, so it's not even a real holiday, just a good excuse not to go to class or work.
This week, I learned that the more time I have, the more time I waste. I think this is why I choose to be so busy all the time. If I didn't have a million things to do all the time, nothing would get done. I am fully aware of how ridiculous that sounds, but this week proved my logic perfectly. Swimming is officially over for the year and one morning of volunteering got cancelled so I was left with a lot more free time. It also happened to be a week with a much lighter work load for my classes than I've had in the past few weeks. One would think that all this extra time on my hands would make me more productive, and allow me to get caught up and ahead in school / sleep or accomplish fun and exciting things that I normally don't get the time for. In addition, I also had a car this week for the first time, which could essentially be referred to as a time saving device. So here I am, fewer time commitments, a new time saving device and less to get done. The problem with free time is that it's addictive. Once you take a break it makes getting going again that much harder. I wasted so much time this week doing nothing. At the time it seemed as though I was being productive somehow, but it was just on silly little time wasting things that didn't actually need to get done. So here it is, Thursday night and there is nothing more crossed off my weekend to do list than there would have been if I had been my usual crazy busy self all week.
Luckily, the swim coach sent out a list of swim practices we can attend every week. It means swimming with the younger club swimmers who kick my butt, but on the bright side it means I can add an hour and a half to two hours of swimming to my daily to do list. Not only is this awesome because it forces me to get a good workout in 3-6 days a week, but it will also force me to be more productive the rest of the day. Knowing you have no time makes you a lot more efficient. I happen to like being efficient. Efficient makes me happy.
There's that saying "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" I wonder if I am making myself super dull by being so convinced that I have to be super productive all the time. It's not that I feel that I HAVE to be, it just feels a lot nicer than stressing all the time and depending on the last minute to get things done. My problem is that I love too many things, and I get really excited about too many new things and try to squeeze it all into my schedule somehow. Maybe instead of trying to be productive I should be trying to learn how to prioritize instead of doing everything.
University presents you with so many new opportunities that it's hard to turn any of them down, and even harder to admit you just can't handle more things to do. There was a request for volunteers from the Family and Nutritional Sciences department (thats me!) this week to volunteer with the Diabetes Association of PEI and it took every fiber of my being, and some stern talking to from Sam, not to reply and say "Pick Me!" Even as I sit here, I find myself figuring out in my head how and when I could make time for more volunteering.
I am crossing my fingers that this obsessive busyness is just a phase and that I'll eventually out grow trying to do everything, but I am also crossing my fingers that I never outgrow the passion I have for my profession and willingness and enthousiasm to try anything and everything.
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