I didn’t think I would fall into this trap again, having learned the hard way at UVA, but I think that I have taken on too much once again. I was burned out beyond belief at UVA, and everyone suffered. I suffered, the Lawn suffered, my so-called education suffered. Like I told a friend last weekend, one of my biggest regrets from UVA is that I didn’t get very much out of my 4 years of education there. This is through no fault of UVA’s, but rather all comes back to my lack of motivation, and my desire to do too much extracurricularly.

Once again, here in grad school, I am starting to feel control of my life slipping out of my hands. First it was orientation. Then it was volleyball. Then it was sculling/rowing. And now Kaplan. If possible, I would really like to stay involved with the BE Board next year, which is yet another commitment. As a grad student, my first and foremost priority really should be research, and god only knows how little research I have gotten done this summer.

I think maybe most people get around this by screening their activities. I think that I try, but it really takes a great deal of effort to delete emails soliciting volunteers for things, or not look into something that I have been wanting to do for a long time (like Kaplan). I am not very good with the whole “oh, I have next year to do that activity, I’ll just wait until then.” I always feel that I will lose the opportunity if I wait until next year, or that things won’t really be less busy next year that waiting won’t make a difference.

So I think for now, I need to focus on research first and foremost, and Orientation second. Kaplan teacher training starts in mid-August. Then, I may have to divert a bit of energy into the training, though I honestly don’t know where that energy will come from: it will likely be the busiest time ever for Orientation then.