Lessons Learned

School's started and it's been a long week. It's been awhile since I've been in school, so my stress level shot up way high this week and insomnia kicked in again. Truthfully, I've probably been putting in more time than I needed and have been reading about 8-9 hours a day the first week of school.

Last night I stayed in and got 12 much needed hours of sleep. Sleep really does a lot to alleviate stress levels and after some quiet time and reflection today, I've started gaining more perspective on life.

I'm learning that everyone's different and no one can make me feel inferior but myself. Part of the reason that I was forcing myself to work so hard is because otherwise I felt inferior to those who put in more hours. That's very stupid on my part - no one really cares how many hours I put in but myself. As long as I finish what I need to finish, there's no reason to tack on extra unecessary hours. There'll be plenty of opportunity to work late as the semester progresses.

My research is going well - I'm diving into the world of intercultural research, a topic I've never focused on before. As a result, I have to spend a lot of time learning the basics of cross-cultural research. I love it, though, and can't wait to tie into it theories on personality as well as close relationships and self-esteem, which are topics I'm more familiar with.

I finally settled on a church in Austin and have joined a small group. I was talking to my mother on the phone and she asked me if God's grace has been sufficient for me to get through each day. Of course the answer is yes, but it got me thinking about how I've been approaching my life. I've been told in graduate school, you're always supposed to be thinking one year ahead. But the problem for me is that I get to thinking about so much that all of a sudden life becomes overwhelming. I need to learn to take things one day at a time and trust that God will provide enough grace for me to finish each day.