Busy Bee

Hello Ursuline,

I hope that everyone is relaxing and enjoying the mid-term break. I actually miss the hustle and bustle of our classes. Being surrounded by my fellow students allows me to learn and develop a lifetime of valuable, interpersonal relationships. And, although we are a part from one another I have come to realize that I need to reflect on who I am becoming this semester. My classes are challenging, there are a lot of responsibilities weighing heavy upon me, and time is of the essence to accomplish each and every task with careful consideration, because each one deserves my full and undivided attention. This can turn out to be quite overwhelming.
This break was like no other for me. I spent time taking care of everyone else and somewhere in the tunnel, on my way to wisdom, I came to realize that I may be doing too much. This is a first for me because I have always thought that I function better when under pressure. I keep busy and things get done. However, being too busy can confuse things and cause the important people, and things, to suffer from lack of my attention.
Let me show you just a small glimpse of my mid-term break world:
1. My daughter’s first sleepover, on my 40th birthday during our break.
2. My birthday spent entertaining 4, high energy, little girls whose only mission was to stay up all night and giggle.
3. Attending to my hospice patients throughout the next day with only 2 hours of sleep after my daughter’s party.
4. Organizing my newly developed Girl Scout troop.
5. And, finally attempting to catch up to all of my homework.
Wow!! What a break, huh? Well not really, because I never made time for me.

I have learned something different about myself during this break. I now know that there is more to life then keeping busy; I have to take time to reflect on the important things and not make everything so critical and urgent. Things do not need to be done right now. I have to find a 3rd alternative to the bumps on my road to success. Not a compromise, yet a solution to making things work for everyone’s happiness; mine, my children’s, and my studies. I believe that there is one out there that will not necessarily be my choice, but the right choice.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, the great philosopher, poet, and author once said, “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” I can not be so busy with my past or my future that it takes away from who I really am and who I am growing up to be. Blog on!

Yours truly,
Kimberley H.