The two classes I’m taking this semester at TSU (Go Bobcats!) are both Honors classes. One of them is Elementary Number Theory (I suspect my professor friend Walter Stroup would know my professor and program….) and Making Spaces (looking at basic theorems of architecture) and I’m already behind in both!! I missed the first class last week because we were out of town and then behaved like a typical young college student without any capacity for planning ahead and allowed myself just enough time today to get to the campus parking lot before class only to discover that it was completely full and there were already about four other cars in the cue ahead of me waiting to find a free space. As a result, I was 20 minutes late to my second day of class in math. In spite of myself, I did actually learn more about the division algorithm that I don’t remember learning before which is how to divide a number using various bases (5, 7) rather than in base ten as we usually do. That was fun. Not exactly sure how to apply it to the real world, but it’s fun to make all the numbers come out.

I’m trying not to panic now that I’m realizing that I’m already behind before I’ve even gotten started. I have one student friend who regularly takes 17 hours and who I believe is a straight A student with a job (she’s a non-traditional student but still younger than me by at least 15 years!). I’m pretty sure she plans ahead for her classes and structures her days accordingly.

So how do we keep from continue to stumble when the race has already begun and we find ourselves way behind the pack? Like any good training program that teaches us how to plan what you want to do and do what you plan, school is no different. Almost the minute I got into class, I began meeting other students to gather email addresses, during the break I asked the instructor for homework assignments and during the break between classes I downloaded the syllabus from the site he sent me to since he doesn’t used the usual school based system (yes, I had emailed him previously to let him know that I was missing the first class).

For the homework assignment that is due on Wednesday, I have begun what I can during this break between classes and will complete the assignment tomorrow during my day at home. On Wednesday, I plan to make both my lunch and dinner (I’m in a special food program with a required food plan) and leave for school early so that I can meet with my math professor well before class starts (and find a good parking space!). I also plan to talk with my friend Julie (hi Julie!) about looking over my math homework to see if I’m on the right track as well as to meet with the professors TA.

I don’t know why after all these many years I still sometimes don’t see the freight train headed for me until I’m on the track, but now that I can see the chunk of time that it will take to get a good grade in these two classes, I’m going to resign from two of my volunteer committees that I’ve been on for awhile now and let someone else step up to the plate. I want to have time to do well in school, do a good job with my work, continue my commitment to people and programs that I’m in and have time to enjoy my husband and friends. Sometimes it is hard for me to remember all the things that I have been doing that take up my time until a good expanse of time is swallowed up and then I can really feel the edges of the balloon seams!

It’s right at this place that I am now that in my past, if I had even gotten here, I would have either run screaming into the night and totally dropped the ball on many people, places and things or I would have been overcome with anxiety and not had a clue how to move through the mire of my own making. What I’m grateful for is the capability of being able to stop and breathe and assess what is going down so that I can then plan my course of action.

I’m sure for some people, this may seem really simple. God bless you!! For me, I’m still a work in progress so I want to share this in progress work with you in case it may help a few of you out there who can recognize yourself in here somewhere. Plus, just having to admit this to y’all is a great way for me to stay accountable!

Thanks for being out there. Share any experience, strength and hope you may have!