Tests, Stress, and No Underwear

March 9, 2015

Well, it’s actually a miracle that I didn't pull all my hair out after last week. I had two midterms that required more studying than one person should ever do in their lives. I spent about 14 total hours studying for my animal science lab midterm on Thursday night. Let me tell you, nothing will make you crazier than memorizing the yield grade reproductive percentages of a sire boar from Switzerland. Especially when you're a freaking English major. Seriously, I would've rather written a dissertation. The long hours had me craving coffee and I had about 4 cups in total for the week, along with 4 smoothies to save time by drinking those instead of sitting down for a meal. I only missed one workout on Monday, but even on the days that I made it to the gym, I felt very slow and unmotivated. In fact, I felt unmotivated about everything. Studying for those tests was the last thing I wanted to do, especially with the miserable weather—weather meant for nap taking, not walking to class. I felt gross in all aspects. The week was so bad, that I reached a student low point. I realized on Friday that I was on my last pair of clean underwear and I wouldn’t have time to do laundry before I left for my weekend road trip!! I had to make a run to the mall and buy new underwear and then swing by HEB to try and stock up on Paleo snacks for the weekend. I was a stressed mess. Looking in the mirror, I could tell that weighing in for the week was not going to be a pleasant experience. 

I was right. I gained two pounds, making it my first set back after nearly 6 weeks of Paleo. I was extremely upset with myself, so upset that I just wanted to run for about 300 miles and hope the two pounds would disappear again. I sat down and reevaluated what I needed to do differently this week, so as not to feel that way anymore. I decided to cut coffee and smoothies out completely, seeing as those things definitely had a lot to do with the weight gain. I’m also trying to stay on top of my school work so that stress doesn’t affect any progress. But at the end of the day, I have to understand that this is a slow process and that everyone experiences set backs at some point. I’m sure this won’t be my last, but it is just another reason to work harder and eventually reach my end goals.
      On a positive note, I got As on both of those exams. And I finally did laundry last night.