These are quite stressful times for me. The semester has reached that point where all the assignment deadlines, tests and quizzes, presentations, and events all somehow managed to schedule themselves within close proximity of each other. No matter how hard I try, or how well I plan, there has been almost no avoiding this throughout my whole time at MIU.
Curiously enough, I'm not really complaining. Having all this work that needs to be done all at the same time actually stimulates my mind. The gears are swiftly and smoothly turning, and all this stress I feel is nothing but the grease I need to keep them that way. My brain is a hive of activity.
Being the person I am, I have a need for my brain to be stimulated. This is why I get myself involved in so many things and, if no external stimuli are available, I often start thinking about random things and then overanalyzing them. Some people aren't the type to be able to simply sit still for lengthy periods of time - the same is true of my brain.
Besides the intellectual stimulation, work-based stress also brings with it something else that I quite enjoy, namely that sense of accomplishment I get whenever I complete something. As I'm currently in my final semester before going off for internship, work just gets harder and harder and, fortunately, this causes the sense of accomplishment from getting it all done to become greater and greater.
Even so, I still feel as if the amount of work I've put in over the three years or so that I've been here hardly measures up to what is being done by my peers at other universities. I've never had any sleepness nights caused by having to complete an assignment or finish studying for a test or exam. I've never had any late-night meetings to work out an event or an issue. I've never found myself so busy that I've literally had no time to do anything else besides my work. I've never felt so stressed to the point where it feels like I could have a nervous breakdown at any moment.
Perhaps it's good that I've never gone through all that - maybe I'm better at managing my time than I think. On the other hand, I can't help but feel that I'm probably going to be a bit overwhelmed when I (hopefully) begin my internship in February. Having previously never worked a day in my life, working for the first time in the corporate world would be akin to learning to swim by diving off a ship in the middle of the ocean. I wouldn't even be surprised if that proves to not be an exaggeration.
Whatever it is, I really should be thankful with my lot. No one should ever be asking for more work than they need. I'll just let things be, and accept whatever comes my way.
