Take care of yourself

Duh, right? This will be short since it is so obvious, but somehow, people forget to take time for themselves when they get busy. Expecially women.

Women tend to want to do everything for everybody and feel guilty if something doesn't get taken care of because they didn't have time. The problem is when you just go go go eventually you'll go right past something without even seeing it. Also, if you don't take care of yourself, you get run down.

I spent a lot of my college years sick. Sometimes very sick. I caught every virus that went around and some that were apparently just special to me. It didn't help that I worked with the public (dirty people) so I was constantly exposed to the latest diseases making the rounds, but it was mainly because my body didn't have the energy to fight anything off.

Main point for the week - take a nap. Seriously people.

Keep your friends close

I started my Associates at Pioneer Pacific in 2004. For 15 months I went to school 4 nights a week. I also worked an 8-5 job on weekdays and 3 shifts per week at a restaurant. In 2005 I finished my Associates and started my Bachelors at University of Phoenix. There, I only went to school 1 night a week but I still had two jobs.

There are two specific times I remember involving my friends. 1. I had just started my first class at UP and was up doing homework around 10pm when my boyfriend came home with a fractured ankle. I made him wait until I finished the homework before I took him to the hospital. 2. In May of 2007 by best friend sent me a myspace comment which mentioned she hadn't seen me since Thanksgiving.

Looking back now, the first example is just flat out unacceptable. Though, in my defense, he was walking around on his ankle, just limping. The second example I think is probably fairly common among people with the schedule I had. However, as I hear at work often, there has to be some sort of work/life balance. I assume this includes a balance with school also.

I consider myself lucky that I still have any friends. I think this is mostly due to the fact that I have amazing friends (love you Angie :)). In case you're wondering (or don't know my life story) I don't have the same boyfriend anymore. I'm pretty sure us not being together anymore isn't directly related to the above example....

I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that when you're schedule goes crazy and is completely over booked as mine was the best thing to do is one thing you think you shouldn't do - schedule in more stuff. If the only way to ensure that you maintain your relationships is to put them on your calendar, do it. I wish I had. I'm nowhere near as busy as I was while in school now but I do live about half an hour from most of my friends. I now have Angie scheduled in for at least one night a week. I also probably should have scheduled in specific times to do my homework rather than doing it last minute at 10 at night...

numero uno

Here is my first foray into blogging. As an accountant, writing a bunch isn't really my thing, but I'm going for it anyway. The first three months of this will be for a project for work. Time will tell if I will continue after that....

For the work project I will be writing about finishing school while working. It has been just over a year since I finished my Bachelors and I still wonder how I did it. For the majority of the 4 years it took to complete I went to school full time, worked full time, and worked part time. In short, I had no life. Beginning with next week's post I will share some of the life lessons I took away from this lovely experience. :)