Wednesday, February 17, 2016

All things stress

Friday will mark exactly 5 weeks since I submitted my graduate school application. I still have not found out whether or not I have been accepted. The school indicated that it would take 4-6 weeks for a decision to be made. So I really shouldn't be worrying yet, but the waiting is making me crazy.


I've been stressing about this application since I decided to apply. I thought the worst would be the last week before submitting my application, when I was spending an hour or two each night working on my application essays. Trying to patiently wait for a response is definitely worse. If I wouldn't have submitted my application on time, well, that would have been my fault. I could blame procrastination and laziness. I could say I might still apply next year.

Now that I have done everything in my power to be admitted to the program, I have to accept the fact that it just might not be enough. I might not be good enough.

In an effort to stay positive and avoid spewing molten crazy all over the place, I've been trying to keep myself distracted with running and reading (and binge watching Scrubs). Right now I am alternating between reading A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness and Attachments by Rainbow Rowell. I will probably finish Attachments in the next couple of days and could really use some book recommendations! Plus any other distractions or relaxation techniques that you can offer would be so greatly appreciated.

8 comments:

  1. Is this like the taper crazies, Grad School App version? Haha.

    All kidding aside, I get it. This one of the unfortunate side affects of having a worrier type personality (no disrespect, I'm a worrier too!). The things that are out of control will always bother us the most. My only advice is to just hang tough and wait it out. There's nothing more to do. It sucks, but this too will pass like everything else.

    Since I think we have pretty similar personalities, I hope you can find this helpful since it's always helped me: one of the best things I can do for myself is to simply get out of my own head for a while. Go volunteer, spend time with friends, read a book (which you're already doing), force myself to get out into the world and interact with other people. Not only does it take your mind off it, but it all serves as an implicit reminder that no matter what, there's a whole world out there and life does - and will - go on.

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    1. Haha yes it is! And it is definitely one of the worse side effects of being a worrier.

      I'll be taking your advice and trying to fill up my calendar with get-togethers so I am not sitting around going crazy.

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  2. I've got my fingers crossed for you! Positive thoughts heading your way. Sucks not to know. Hope you find out soon. That would be making me crazy too!!! Have you tried cleaning your house and organizing your closet? :)

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    1. Thanks Lisa! My house has never been so spotless, but my closet could you a bit of a makeover. I'll be adding that to my to-do list for sure!

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  3. Good luck! I remember waiting to hear back from grad school, and I was pretty stressed. It was a very up and down time in my life, but it all felt better once I had a spot secured. Don't worry too much and try to keep your mind on other things. They always take forever to get back to you and even if it doesn't work out how you wanted it to, it'll definitely work out for the best. :-)

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    1. Thanks Kerry! It always helps to have the perspective of someone who has already gone through this.

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  4. Don't stress yet! One of my grad school professors who was on my program's acceptance committee told me that it's difficult to get all of the professors together to make decisions and that they sent out all of the acceptance letters out together at the end. The school you applied to might take the same approach which is why you haven't heard yet! Fingers crossed that you hear soon!

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    1. Oh that is a really helpful perspective to consider! I work with a few professors and they definitely can be hard to track down at times.

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