Staying in Step

"I know you're wise beyond your years
But do you ever get the fear
That your perfect verse is just a lie
You tell yourself to help you get by?"

- Clark Gable, Postal Service

Standing on the edge of another semester of school and I'm filled with the overwhelming sense of being swept up into a perpetual dance of academia and college life. And, god damn it, I'm determined to not mess up this semester. But as the semester wares on, not tripping over your feet because more difficult with each passing week. Things speed up and get complicated. I get flustered. I forget how to keep that very important balance between obligations and having fun. And then, before I know it, I'm sitting in a corner, frustrated and pissed off, and the world spins madly on around me. It's funny- when you're prepared for that whirlwind of situations it seems to just float around you, gracefully picking you up in all of its worried anxious energy and passing you off to the next waiting challenge. But when you're outside of it all, looking in, all you see is a chaotic mess. I suppose the strategy is to revel in the chaos of life, rather than try to fight it.

So, here's my advice to my readers: when you feel yourself getting overwhelmed this semester, just remember to breath deep calming breathes, accept that life will always contain some form of stress and then take it one step at a time. Find the balance between getting caught up in the moment and planning for the future. Sometimes we can't avoid the rough patches, but think of how lucky you are to actually have the option to avoid it or not. You are all intelligent people. Just don't panic and work yourself into a tizzy.