Running on empty, revisited
Way back on Jan. 30, I wrote a blog entry about the similarities between enduring the school year and running long distance, specifically the varying levels of energy and apathy over time.
At right is the graph that I made to show this, dating back to the beginning of third quarter. According to that graph, I should currently have a very positive attitude about school (check) but also be losing the will to do well on homework and tests. That, I’m glad to say, hasn’t happened.
Last weekend, I had a chemistry take-home exam to finish by Sunday night, a major English paper to finish by Monday night, and a research paper in history looming on the horizon. Additionally, I had to take care of some minor-yet-time-consuming short-term stuff for math, history, journalism, and Japanese.
Even though I focused almost unequivocally on homework on Friday night, Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon, I was still banging my head against my desk at 10 on Sunday night trying to make sense of my chaotic pH calculations.
But was I apathetic or unmotivated? No, because the end of the year was so close, and I knew that putting in the extra effort now would make the end of the quarter less stressful.
While I wrote my English paper, I reminded myself that this was the last paper I would be writing for the rest of the year, besides history, which I already had a good start on. The chemistry exam was a monster, but the feeling of finally stapling it back together and putting it away resulted in a great feeling of relief (but I’ll let you know if I still feel that way when I get the graded exam back).
I feel quite a bit happier after fitness class than after sports class, because I feel like I’ve accomplished something, and gotten the hard stuff out of the way for at least two days. We did a two-and-a-third-mile run in the hot sun on Monday morning, and although I was seconds from becoming reacquainted with my breakfast afterward, I was still glad that I had put in the effort, because it would help me get in shape for the 5K. Similarly, I try to get good grades because it will hopefully help me get into the college I want to attend.
This, of course, begs the question of what’s so important about my longish-term goals. In accordance with my current state of non-apathy, I guess my answer would be that at this stage in my life, I can’t feasibly avoid the trials that have been put in place. (Example: “Hey Merf, I’m not going to run the 5K this year.” “OK, have fun running fitness every day until you graduate.”)
Once I get all the obligatory stuff out of the way, I’ll still have plenty of time to do what I really enjoy. Sorry I’m in such a ridiculously good mood. I’m starting to frighten myself a bit with it.
— Andrew Lovdahl