This morning before work there was nothing on the radio that I wanted to listen to so I popped my ipod in the player and dialed up a random podcast from the Vinyl Cafe. This one was about Dave taking his son to ride a roller coaster, and how at one point in their lives, Dave was gung-ho to ride but his son was too scared... and suddenly the day came that his son was ready and Dave was too scared. He stopped to read the warning sign that stood at the entrance of the ride and realized that he had gotten older and more scared and couldn't jump right in like he used to want to.
It was a great story, but one point came back to me later today. The son, guessing that his father would have a hard time on the roller coaster, had done some research on the internet to help him get through it. He advised his father:
- Concentrate on the part of the track that is right in front of you, rather than looking at the whole route.
- If you get queasy, put your foot down hard and pretend you're driving.
- Repeat to yourself "you only have to do this once."
Later today, I found myself in the library at school (oh God I hate that place, it is the least-comfortable, most baffling place ever and I hate it!) and looking down the barrel of a three hour class from 6-9, and melted down. I am so done with grad school. I can see it being fun if you have nothing else going on, but honestly, I'm working toward a degree in something I already do and love and it is really HARD to handle it all. I know, I know, I'm whining. But that is how I felt this evening as I wallowed in the library about the overwhelmed state I found myself in.
I went on to said long class and halfway through I heard a voice in my head say "you only have to do this once." Soon I realized that all those rules for how to survive riding a roller coaster were applicable to my life right now (and I bet the lives of anyone else in education, one way or another, right now). So I re-adjusted my vision to just the bit of track that's in front of me, put my foot down and pretended I was driving, and then repeated my mantra. "You only have to do this once. You only have to do this once."
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2 comments:
Margo the rollar coaster analogy is so APT. I often think of Sunday nights as being on the rollar coaster chugging towards the top of the week. That slwo ride up may still be pleasant and slow but you can anticipate when things really start picking up speed and flying through the week. So I am gonna take your rollar coaster advice:>)
My mantra this year is, "I only have to do this SIX more times." col (chuckle out loud) And, on bad days I say," I only HAVE to do this 2 more times."
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