Balance.

Woo, I have 4 followers! :)

I know I've been a stranger lately but I've been really enjoying my week and haven't had much of anything too insightful to share!

I've really been experiencing the power of balance over the past couple days and basking in the pleasure of not being too tied up in any one thing . . .

As you know already I love to focus on all the daunting particulars of my life and it tends to get me in quite a dither. The other day I was able to realize that I have some level of control with this:

I was looking through my planner and getting an idea of what the next couple weeks were going to bring and, when I came across the day where I have 2 scheduled exams, 2 papers due (one of them being in APA format: extremely formal and TEDIOUS with lots of preliminary work before the writing process even starts...) and one presentation, I started to freak out a little bit.

So, quite contrary to my normal habit, what did I choose to do? I packed up my bag, took the bus to my supportive boyfriend Danny's apartment, grabbed a BEER and sat down to work on my homework.

This was a huge step for me.

I would have never thought I would be sipping on a beer while working on homework.

It was then that I realized that the only reason it hadn't yet happened is because there was this unwritten rule that I had, at some unknown point in time, established for myself.

I then started trying to identify any other boundaries and walls I had set up for myself and was surprised at the surplus of them. . .

For example:
-"stick to drinking tea in the morning, Karissa, because, even though it's delicious and can sometimes help you focus during class, coffee is ADDICTIVE, and that can't be good..."
-"I have to get all my homework done before doing anything tonight or hanging out because otherwise I will get behind in my work and be miserable for the rest of the semester."
-"alcohol has so many calories and should probably only be consumed once or twice every week for you (even though you just turned 21...) and so DON'T have a beer or a glass of wine with dinner tonight so you can go out this weekend. . ."

OBVIOUSLY these are all very irrational and constrictive thoughts/rules that I have been unknowingly and unquestionably abiding by for quite sometime now. I'm beginning to realize that IT'S OKAY to take down those boundaries and just enjoy things for what they are every once in awhile.

Having that beer while working on my homework the other day reminded me that I don't have to take things so damn seriously all the time. Reminded me that there doesn't have to be such a harsh separation between work and play. Reminded me that even a day full of homework can be enjoyed with a piping hot cup of coffee on a new fall day and the company of your boyfriend's roommate's adorable, cuddling dog.

(Meet Mingus!)

Now, this is not to say that I will become a 3 daily cups of coffee drinking, alcoholic procrastinator who doesn't have anything together. But, you get the idea here.

It's all about a balance.