Emily's Worldview

I spent some time today talking about stress with a group of fellow students for a class project. On a scale of 1-5 almost everyone put their stress levels at 3.5 or above. People cited sources of stress I had never noticed or thought about. One felt that other students were competing with her; another felt that her sexual identity was marginalized. Others worried about thesis data, health insurance, body image, curriculum. Almost everyone was stressed by friendships and school deadlines. Here we are in graduate school, at what is supposed to be a relatively leisurely moment in our lives and we're so wound up that in a one hour focus group people started talking about their mothers and about how they overeat when they're stressed.

And here I am. It's 1 in the morning. I have been at school since 10 this morning: class-project-appointment-work at one job-work at another job-homework-thesis-homework-personal project. I've been staying at school to do work because our internet at home has been erratic, and because I can get more done and stay up later working when there's no bed calling me. It's good to be productive, but quite dehumanizing. I'm ready for life after school.