December 3rd, 2008
Final Days of Dreading
As of late, I have been feeling a tremendous sinking as apparent from my previous post and maybe before it. I'd stopped going to biochem at 10:30, almost mid day. I'd stopped going over labs before class, and stopped printing out notes and showing up late. What has gotten into me is a tremendous sag. On days that are dry, I can ride my bike and surprisingly that gives me most if not all the relief I get during my days. So when it rains and its freezing cold, I am completely locked in. Attendence in class and arrival time has been fixed to whether I got enough sleep and how the weather is looking. But I've been noticing even when the days are dry and the sun is out briefly between classes, I'm still dreading the future. Dreading seems to be all that I have been doing lately. Though the exams are withing days, and I am without a general idea of what is being taught I am still withering in dread and procrastination. There is always so much to do, I never feel there is an end and the results are always as expected, never spectacular.
Thus I have no incentive to suffer for weeks when I can suffer for days and get away with the same thing. It's always the same. I know my stuff but there is always little I can do.
But now that I've given a new meaning to "slack," I'm beginning to taste the wisdom seeping into my adolescent skull. The truth is, suffering is in fact inevitable. But I've never gotten away with satisfaction by sparing a little suffering. Pulling through "OK" never brought me satisfaction regardless of effort. And I've been struggling with the effort thing intensely. But I think it's suddenly become clear to me that there is only one choice in this. There is only one thing that counts. Succeeding.
I really need to start seeing it. I need to learn to take satisfaction in falling from a good fight. If I don't I will only find dead end streets.