Two weeks from today, I will have finished my first semester of classes at Georgetown. Four weeks from today I will have turned in all of my final papers, and then I will let myself buy Georgetown swag. Yes, my gift to myself for completing the semester will be a new hoodie proclaiming that I am a Hoya for real and certain. It's nice motivation.
But the last weeks are always the hardest. I want so much to start letting myself get swept up in the holiday spirit. My December issue of Southern Living arrived the other day, and I am finding so much inspiration, but I can't really let myself indulge yet. Christmas movies will have to wait, and I don't anticipate anyone getting homemade gifts this year-- especially since I begin working my nine-to-five again before I've even turned in my last paper. I just don't foresee having the time to cross-stitch or play very much with clay. But maybe. Maybe I'll surprise myself.
Not that I haven't been having fun. Besides the karaoke party I mentioned a few posts back, I went to a bona fide "Christmas" party, where I drank wonderful hot chocolate, cider with rum, ate kringle and homemade cookies and s'mores, and watched A Muppet Christmas Carol. That really made me want to go all out with the holiday love, but not yet, not yet. Over the weekend I had dinner with Shea, and the next night I got to see a couple of friends who were visiting from out-of-town. Tomorrow I'm attending callbacks for The Tempest and I believe Friday is the first read-through; I'm really, really excited about working on this project and rejoining the craziness that is GG&SS. I'm really trying to balance out a social life with grad school this time around.
Still, part of me wants to do nothing but barricade myself in my room and read and write until I have it all completed. Part of me can't let go of the idea that I must get all of my work done before I'm allowed to play. Part of me has trouble seeing that anything other than school obligations are really worthwhile, including working on theater, spending time with friends, visiting museums and limited-engagement events in the city, and having conversations that lead to new ideas. Part of me still struggles with this idea of balance.
I feel ya. It's really hard to justify taking breaks to yourself when you know EXACTLY how much work you have to get done. Even when you also know EXACTLY how necessary those breaks are!
ReplyDeleteYep. I never did learn to strike that balance - at least, not at UW. I managed at UCSB okay, but I think some of it was the different culture of the two programs (and I don't think anything more needs to be said about that - YOU already know what I'm talking about).
ReplyDeleteFor me, the holiday season begins at Thanksgiving. After Thanksgiving, no holds are barred on the holiday music, the baking, the sugarplums ... I'm making presents (obviously) already, but I'm getting seriously twitchy waiting for Thanksgiving to GET HERE ALREADY so I can turn on the 'tunes. It's so late this year! How am I expected to have this kind of patience?
You need no swag, you've been a Hoya all along!
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