I've got issues with stamina.
Here it is: the start of another term. Winter is upon us and already moving quickly. It never takes long to get back into the routine of past habits -- usually a couple of days is sufficient. After about three weeks off to recover from the intensities, rigors and vicissitudes of Fall term, most of us feel prepared to begin anew and to tackle all that the snow-packed (and unfortunately melting) Hanover Plain has in store for us. It's a new year and a new term, replete with new potential and new opportunities to realize.
Back to my stamina issue. While I love breaks and I enjoy that time at home with my friends, I have come to understand that no break is long enough to ready me to charge through the 10-week (only about nine this term) Dartmouth "quarter" without stopping to come up for air.
I remember vividly a comment made by the '98 who hosted me when I was a prospective. Regarding how to survive in Hanover, she told me: "You just take a deep breath at the beginning of the term, hold it and then let it out at the end." Pretty simple, right?
Well, no. It's really not all that simple. Not for me, at least. Coming back as a sophomore this year, with three terms of experience and a summer of non-academic play-time under my belt, I truly believed that I could take that big breath that Simone told me about and just do it. Just plow right through the term without taking a breath or stopping for air.
And then the reality of my limitations hit me right smack in the forehead.
I can't do it. I cannot make it through 10 weeks and complete my academic and extra-curricular commitments to a level of personal satisfaction without stopping to take a break and get away from Hanover. This is not negativity and self-depreciation talking; this is painful honesty. I have far too much pride to make saying this easy. In fact, the first time I said aloud, "I can't do it," I half expected the planet to open up or the sky to fall or at least the server and blitzmail to crash. But it didn't. None of those things happened. I admitted my own shortcomings, and it was OK.
I'm a busy person, just like everyone else. I have involved myself in some activities, I'm taking classes, and it is very important to me to spend time with my friends. Balancing all three of those wants does not leave a whole lot of personal time for reflection, and it forces me to make choices and sacrifices. Clearly, I'm not going to die if I don't go out on Friday and Saturday nights.
But this is where I have issues with stamina. To do everything I want to do, to the degree to which I want to do it, requires that deep breath stamina. Not to mention a whole lot of discipline. It is difficult to stay in the library on a Friday night, even though I know that is the only way I can ensure a productive Saturday for myself. And going out one night every two or three weeks is just not the kind of break I need, though it certainly helps. I need to leave campus to rejuvenate myself.
So where does this leave me? Now that I know that I need to escape the Upper Valley to maintain my sanity and drive, the only questions remaining are: when and where? If you, too, suffer from stamina issues, or if you just want a change of scenery and you have a fun idea for an outing, give me a blitz sometime, and we'll go play.
