When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going

Pace yourself, honey…I whisper to myself like I’m running a marathon.

But at this moment I don’t know a thing about pacing myself.

My breath is sputtering, my legs are wobbling and I’m just trying to find the energy to make it to the finish line.

I’m just four weeks from finishing my graduate program and I’m tired. Pooped. Kaput.

I need some rest.

Self-care should be a priority right now, but nothing will feel as good as getting it all done, and then drinking champagne straight from the bottle.

But my idea of self-care these days is watching SNL on YouTube and imagining all the things I will do once I have free time.

Like binging on Netflix, puttering around my garden and wandering the aisles at Target.

Side note: Sometimes, when faced with actual free time, I get so excited that I don’t know what to do with myself.

So I squander away precious time taking BuzzFeed quizzes, watching puppy videos and reading recipes we both know I’ll never make.

But right now I’m in the thick of it. The Super Bowl of academia.

And I’m trying not to have a nervous breakdown or eat my weight in Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

Seriously, all I want to do is take a nap.

But I must carry on when I’m thisclose to finishing.

Sometimes if I think of everything that needs to still get done – *cough* thesis – I get dizzy.

So I try to take it one day at a time. Slowly crossing items off my list.

And putting one Starbucks-infused foot in front of the other knowing that soon those feet will be carrying me across the finish line on graduation day.