{"id":465,"date":"2017-03-03T17:07:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-03T17:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/?p=465"},"modified":"2017-03-03T17:08:38","modified_gmt":"2017-03-03T17:08:38","slug":"the-march-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/the-march-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"The March Issue. An Internal Monologue."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"natasha_\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Natasha\u2019s eyes flutter awake. Turning over to look at her phone, she sees 7:30 a.m., March 1. The first day of March. Her brain, which has been awake for some time, jolted to attention and immediately sprang to action, seeing an opportunity to torment her host. <\/em><\/p>\n

The Brain<\/strong> (in a condescending voice<\/em>):<\/strong> Did you think that you were done with all those March deadlines from your bachelor\u2019s degree\u2026 and the essays due last year for your MA? HAHAHA! You thought wrong! Oh\u2026 your mind is whirling now isn\u2019t it? The schedule you had, which let\u2019s be fair, you were already running behind, well\u2026 you can scrap it. Oh and your ideas of going to weekly potlucks and The Bachelor<\/em> screenings with friends, you can forget those too. Conference Season is here darling\u2026 you\u2019re going to need to make sacrifices.<\/p>\n

Natasha pushes her Brain\u2019s incessant dialogue aside, gets out of bed and looks in her closet. Feeling inspired by the weather outside and the foreboding gloom her brain had prepared her for, she picks a pair of jeans, and a black turtleneck. <\/em><\/p>\n

The Brain:<\/strong> Forget the jewelry and accessories, you\u2019re just going to be plopped at your desk all day, so what is the point.<\/p>\n

Heading downstairs, she sees the disaster that is the living room, which her roommate had adopted as his secondary office\u2026 papers spilled everywhere. <\/em><\/p>\n

The Brain:<\/strong> Brush it off, you have more important things to worry about.<\/p>\n

She quickly puts something together for breakfast. She packs lunch and dinner, to make sure she has something to sustain herself over the next 12 hours. <\/em><\/p>\n

The Brain:<\/strong> Don\u2019t forget the coffee, make it a big one. I\u2019m absolutely exhausted this morning and we still haven\u2019t made a dent in the to-do list. And make it a bigger dinner because you still need to go to the gym\u2026 you can\u2019t arrive at your conferences looking like you\u2019ve been stress-eating this entire month, which you undoubtedly will.<\/p>\n

Obeying the command of the brain, she scoops some extra quinoa into her Tupperware container, which had become deformed due to its frequent forays with the microwave and dishwasher. <\/em><\/p>\n

Now running to the bus stop, Natasha makes a quick mental check that she has everything she needs for the day. Noticing the heaviness of her backpack, she checks the box for the library books she\u2019s been meaning to bring back to the office. — Once on the bus, the Brain takes over again and starts listing the ever-changing, ever-domineering to-do list. <\/em><\/p>\n

The Brain: <\/strong>1) Finish reading that great MA thesis, which yours will never measure up to. 2) Send out emails to the presenters for the SAA conference session you\u2019re chairing at the end of the month, yup\u2026 you just had to put more on your plate didn\u2019t you… 3) Outline your presentation that you need to give to the department in two weeks that you should have started weeks ago. 4) Keep working on the 3rd<\/sup> chapter of your thesis, which should be done by now. 5) Consider your supervisor\u2019s edits to your 2nd<\/sup> chapter\u2026 it could have been more polished\u2026<\/p>\n

With all those heavy thoughts, Natasha quickly marches from Memorial’s University Centre bus stop to her post, fighting against the cold St. John\u2019s winds. Queen\u2019s College now in view, she feels its hot panoptic gaze and its magnetic pull only holding on to her obligations. — Sitting down at her desk, she gets to work, her Brain reminding her to come back to her to-do list whenever she is caught in the act of procrastination. <\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been dark for hours now, and Natasha feels the last bit of energy leave her body. Back at home, she gets into her sweatpants and sweater, makes some herbal tea and sips it while thinking back on her day. She takes a deep breath and smiles to herself while inhaling the sweet and calming smell of chamomile. Cuing on the relaxed physical state of her host, the Brain, which has been running on auto-pilot most of day, decides to give her a little break. After all, she would have to go through it all over again tomorrow. <\/em><\/p>\n

The Brain:<\/strong> Well, you\u2019ve done it again; you\u2019ve survived another day of grad school. Ok, so you didn\u2019t get everything on your to-do list done, but you made progress. Be proud of that. You can also be proud that you fought against my shaming commentary all day. You pushed on and shut me down when I wasn\u2019t useful to you. You were strong. You\u2019ve made it until now; you\u2019ll make it through March as well. Ok, so March can be tough but who said grad school would be easy? But with every sip of your tea, remind yourself that you wouldn\u2019t want to be doing anything else and that you have been given the opportunity to test your will, your endurance, and your abilities. Today, you\u2019ve passed again, but you will be put to the test again tomorrow. But if the past is the good predictor of the future, you\u2019ll do well.<\/p>\n

Shutting her eyes, she acknowledges her brain which never stops, even while she sleeps, and thanks it for giving her some much needed radio silence. And as she drifts into slumber, Natasha passes the metaphorical relay stick back to her brain who will continue the work while she sleeps so she can take the stick back again at 7:30 a.m. the next morning. <\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Wishing you all a great month of March, you\u2019re not alone in the fight, and you will get through it.<\/p>\n

Sending you lots of love and encouragement,<\/p>\n

~Natasha<\/p>\n

*Special thanks to the Student Wellness and Counselling Centre which has been a great help to me this past semester.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Natasha\u2019s eyes flutter awake. Turning over to look at her phone, she sees 7:30 a.m., March 1. The first day of March. Her brain, which has been awake for some time, jolted to attention and immediately sprang to action, seeing an opportunity to torment her host. The Brain (in a condescending voice): Did you think … [Read more…]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-natasha-leclerc","4":"post-465","6":"format-standard","7":"category-student-blog"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/128"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":471,"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465\/revisions\/471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.mun.ca\/studentblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}