Tuesday, November 13, 2007

A Balancing Act

My second-to-last semester at Northeastern has almost come to an end (only three weeks left) and it has definitely been one of my toughest semesters. Not isolated to just the schoolwork, it has been a balancing act between classes, riding and a part-time job. I have two classes a day Monday through Friday. I ride on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. And I spend about 10 hours a week working for my part-time job (admittedly, I do most of the work from my own living room but I manage to make it into the office every Friday). Now remember, you also have to factor in time for homework, laundry (where does it all come from?), picking up the apt., eating, sleeping and the boyfriend (for the first month...or two, he definitely got put on the back burner - luckily for me, he is extremely loving and understanding).

During the first half of this blogging project I only posted once or maybe (if you were lucky) twice a week because I was so S.T.R.E.S.S.E.D. I was still working out all the kinks in my schedule, trying to fit way too much into a 24-hour day. Fortunately, I think I've figured it out - it's called compromise. For example, if I spend eight hours at the barn then I only have 16 hours left. Take out another eight for sleeping (sorry, that's non-negotiable) and I'm left with only eight for classes, homework, boyfriend, eating and all those other annoying musts (laundry comes to mind).

So... the answer is compromise. Now, I spend four to five hours riding (including driving time) and more time on all those other, less fun tasks (except the boyfriend - he's a lot of fun).

I found this article from the Horsemen's Yankee Pedlar online. It's also about the balancing act, but from another perspective. This article focuses more on getting your riding-fix through a college equestrian team.

As this semester winds down (and I'm swamped with research papers and final projects) I have to decide the fate of the spring semester (AKA my final semester at Northeastern!). Should I cut back on one or both of my extracurricular activities to have more time to enjoy my last few months before I'm swallowed whole by the real world? Or should I keep on keepin' on? Hmmm... something to think about.

Talk to you soon,
EDV