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My gosh, what a hectic week it’s been. Nothing crazy happened in particular but this week has felt like a vortex that kept pulling me in deeper and deeper into the void before I can even finish spelling ‘study schedule’.

I’ve had about 4 cups of bubble tea this week. FOUR! You know you’re going through it when you’ve had more than two bubble teas in the span of two days.

While my exams are all due to happen at the tail end of finals (to whoever set my exam schedule, may you never ever get caught in traffic on the way to work ever again), my friend and I have decided to somewhat bid au revoir to our procrastination days and actually start our revision sessions earlier. So that’s what I’ve been up to almost every day for the past two weeks and boy, oh boy, has it been draining. Draining but also rewarding. It does feel good coming home knowing that I’ve been academically productive with my days and sailing smoothly with our study schedules. It almost makes me feel a little less guilty when I’m treating myself to a cup of bubble tea after every study session. 

So great, preparations for finals are going pretty well but everyone needs a good balance in their lives, right? On the not-so-great end of my stick is the struggle I’m facing with my research essay. If I’m on the Disney Cruise Line with my exam prep then it seems I’ve boarded the Titanic with my research essay. It’s due in two weeks-ish, I have 4000 words to type up and so far, I’ve only got one badly written paragraph in. In an attempt to push myself to write something, I’ve set out deadlines for each paragraph that I need to finish but I’m disappointed to say that that is not going well. Of course, I can blame this all on Mercury being in retrograde but really, deep down, I know it’s just my lack of inspiration and avoidant procrastination.

First-year Asirah would’ve rocked back and forth in her swivel chair and stained her notebooks with tears if she were in this very same position that I’m in right now. So why have I not broken down yet? I’m fairly confident it’s because I’ve gotten a lot better at putting a cap on my work/study time. I make it a point to save my documents and put my draft papers away the moment the clock strikes 8 P.M., then spend the rest of my night doing relaxing activities like journaling, doodling and re-watching Grown Ups 1 and 2 on Netflix. Also going to bed early! It’s been super helpful with containing the anxious thoughts that I’ve been having lately with exams and all. It’s like switching off the lights in my brain so I can enjoy the peaceful bliss of simply not thinking too much.