Blurr @mustoejames
By James Mustoe
A blurry couple of weeks have just flown by and the next couple set to be the same.
The SCA workload is piling up like Christmas presents, the kind you get from a distant relative.
Briefs are increasing and sleep decreasing, my mind crying out to focus, just to have the one brief one thing to focus on would be great. Dividing time into so many different topics, with different people is very stressful especially when deadlines are rapidly approaching. It’s an eye-opening experience and a taste of the terms to come as well as post SCA life.
Late SCABs have been a reoccurring theme for me and one which comes down to bad time management on my side. It’s very easily done though and even when you think you’ve planned your time well SCA can throw a spanner straight at you which changes everything you thought you had planned. So many things here are about how good you can balance:
Work vs social life
Actually sitting down and working on a brief vs the inspirational wonder
Staying in the school to work vs being somewhere else
Meditation vs robotic routine
Sleep vs worry
Proposition vs what’s a proposition?
Over the last month or so I’ve been finding it difficult to sleep and it’s a horrible feeling. I never thought this would be a problem for me as I do love a nap but lately, I’m missed waking up in the morning and feeling rejuvenated. It’s more a feeling of a continuation of the stress from the previous day and my mind won’t stop thinking about the different briefs current and future. Now I have started to appreciate giving yourself time to meditate and time away from work because the more overthinking you do the less likely an idea will find you. Some helpful advice I’ve picked up along the way:
When I first started meditating, I had the misunderstanding that I wasn’t supposed to have any thoughts.
I constantly thought I was doing it “wrong” because I could not stop thinking! And the more I judged myself, the less likely I was to meditate.
I didn’t want to just sit there. – I had the same three doubts many people do: I can’t sit still, I can’t turn my mind off, and I don’t have the time. What worked for me: All you really have to do is focus on your breath, whether it’s for one hour, one minute, or even 16 seconds. You could even accumulatively meditate all day long: standing in line at Starbucks, you don’t have to sit still, you can move around and meditate at the same time.
