Wednesday, 19 February 2014

Will Power

I am doing my Bachelor’s degree via correspondence. I also work full-time. Those two facts are daunting together. They require some dedication and enough will power to be able to study in the evening after a long, busy day at the office. I have a renewed respect for anyone attempting this, especially those who push through however many years it takes and manage to get their degree. Well done to those people!

I have had it tough the last two weeks. This is my most heavily loaded semester so far. I had a tight schedule planned out and was managing to stick to it, at first. Then we had a friend from Italy visiting who was only going to be in Cape Town for a few days so I left my books alone for a bit. Next we had a heat wave; really it was more than 40 degrees! I sat at my desk, sweltering, and nothing seemed to go in. I did try to study but had to give-up after a while as the heat was making me cranky, tired and unable to concentrate try though I might. It was so hot a trip to the air conditioned Spar down the road was magical and I even considered taking my books there to study in their coffee shop area.
Luckily the heat broke somewhat on Monday, it is still hot but at least with a bit of a breeze in the evening I finally managed to be productive, about time! At that stage I was two weeks behind schedule. I will have a lot to do this week to catch-up. It will be possible though if I push through.

This is what minimalism has given me. The time I need to study and the focus to push on even when I am wondering why I am doing this and putting all this extra pressure on myself. It has definitely helped that my cleaning work load has decreased and that I am spending lee time watching TV. Intentional living has also forced me to re-evaluate what is important in my life and my studies has become a part of that. I even think that the will power I needed to exercise to not go shopping the last 6 months has helped. Will power is like a muscle apparently, the more you use it the easier it becomes. I will make this semester work.

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