Well, here we are back at Washburn University live and in person. It’s crazy how fast spring-summer break can pass you by when there is a global pandemic going on right outside your door.

In all seriousness though…this summer kind of wrecked me, and not just this summer, everything that happened after spring break. I don’t know how many, if anyone really, reads this column, but once the University went online…I kind of went offline.

My advisor had asked that I do a graduation edition of this column, but between finishing classes, the yearbook, and just trying to keep my head above water, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Sorry about that if it was something you were looking forward to.

Because I have my Bachelors of Arts in Psychology, I know that stress over long periods of time isn’t great on one’s health. Even so, I continued to be what I would rate as extremely stressed out for at least 95% of the 5 months we were out of school. This took its toll on me. Only after finally hitting submit on the last few pages of the yearbook, did I finally take a breath.

Then, the new obsession of my life came into play. Graduate school. For those of you who don’t know, I was accepted into the Washburn Masters of Clinical Psychology program. I am grateful everyday that I was chosen to continue my educational journey here at Washburn.

That being said, nothing could have prepared me for the first few weeks of graduate school. At first, it was weird only going to class once a day for a few hours, but then, I found out that was because the sheer amount of homework is significantly bigger than what one usually does in undergrad. Suffice to say, I became increasingly thankful for the time outside of class to get through all the reading and planning I had to do.

I chose to come back, in my graduate school journey, to write this column because, well…even if no one else reads it and gets anything from it, it is at least a significant form of stress relief for me.

Speaking of stress relief, one of the biggest things I got out of my first week of grad school is that support, being kind to yourself and asking for help is important.

No one knows what is going to happen next with all of this COVID-19 stuff. It sucks. Straight up. The situation is crappy, and we are all just doing our best. Your best is good enough. You are good enough and as long as we are willing to lean on each-other (figuratively keep that 6ft social distance y’all), we will all get through this.

I want to leave you with one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever gotten, which stems from this quote by Brian Dyson, former CEO of Coca-Cola Enterprises,
“Imagine life as a game, in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them: work, family, health, friends and spirit, and you’re keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls: family, health, friends and spirit, are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.”

The advice I got was from one of the upper level graduate school students who found it on a graduate school oriented advice/meme sharing Facebook page. The student told us to remember that not all of the balls you are carrying are glass.

Figure out which balls in your life are glass and which ones are rubber, and then, don’t be so hard on yourself when you drop one.

Edited by Jason Morrison, Shelby Spradling, Joelle Conway