#themadgrad

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•October 2018•

I hope these first few days of fall have been treating you all well.🍁🍂

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Better late than never 07.06.18

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Somehow we are more that half way through this year, at least I can justify purchasing a new planner.

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  One of the things I was least looking forward to after graduation was the infamous “…so what’s next question”; mostly for two reasons. 1- I didn’t feel like explaining what was next because I was still unsure and 2- I didn’t want to hear people’s opinions on my plans or lack thereof. All I truly knew was that I had finally graduated and I was exhausted.

   Feeling exhausted seemed weird because I reached the goal I had been working toward my whole educational career, but as my graduation date receded further into memory the feeling stayed put. Every day I had been working nonstop and just as hard as I was during school; paper and project due dates morphed into job application deadlines, lectures into more shifts at my part-time job and weekly assignments into researching grad programs. However, I didn’t feel productive, I felt like I was lagging.

   Even though the workload wasn’t the same, the sense of urgency, anxiety, and stress was almost identical. It wasn’t until recently I realized the momentum and attitude I used for school wasn’t a fit anymore and it was causing me to stress out post-graduation. The biggest stressors came from unrealistic goals I put on myself following graduation like finding an amazing gap year job and a perfect masters/Ph.D. program and doing it all within a few short months.

   If I could start these past 2 months over the first thing I would do is treat myself. I wish I would’ve given myself time to rest and restart instead of jumping straight into another packed schedule. Planning and reevaluating your systems and routines when something changes like the shift from student to non-student is important but so is taking time for reflection and refocus. Graduation is exciting and it’s something to look forward too as well as what follows when you turn your tassel.

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•4 weeks until graduation•

Hey everyone once again sorry for my lack of posting over the past couple of weeks! I’m currently at an academic conference presenting the research I’ve been working on for the past year. The conference consists of panel talks, lectures and then a poster session which I participated in. Its been very inspiring to be apart of something with professionals and other academics. Its only one day into this trip and I'm already feeling refreshed and ready to attack these last few weeks of undergrad. This trip has also been a great reminder of why I love anthropology and has just solidified that I’m right where I need to be. Its only Tuesday and this has been by far the best week of my semester.

Now the real tea is leading up to this conference I was ridiculously stressed and over worked. My poster for the presentation had a mistake on it that I didn’t have the ability to fix, I dropped a vase on my toe and I forgot to turn in an assignment. but now that I’ve gotten my presentation out of the way I feel much lighter and optimistic about the next 30 days. 

On a side note after graduation, I plan to continue running this blog as a studyblr! I will still be doing study/school things for example over the next few months I’m planning to study to take my GRE (general requirements exam) and going through the grad school application process. 

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•7 weeks till graduation•

So I haven't updated you guys in the last 3 weeks of my graduation countdown but they can be summed up with the word “Yikes’. When I first started this series I wanted it to be really uplifting and exciting so I apologize if these posts seem gloomy and uninspired. I wanted to be honest with my journey through these last with months of undergrad but I don't want to discourage anyone! I am very excited to graduate and I'm looking forward to whats next, however, the stress of school has been absolutely exhausting. 

On a much higher note, my spring break was quite productive and very relaxing. I finished all of the organizing and cleaning I wanted to do plus I got to spend time with old friends and new ones. I'm using the rest and peace I found over the break to start on a positive note this first day back to classes. One thing I am looking forward to over the next couple of days is that I can go purchase my graduation regalia and begin inviting family and friends to the ceremony! Hopefully, once I have my tassel in hand it will be the slap in the head I need to buckle down for the remainder of the semester.

I hope you all have been well over the past couple weeks, Happy Sunday and happy studying!

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Yesterday I sat down for an hour and planned out all of February. I left room to add stuff as the month goes on but I think I prefer this method of planning. Even though it's the 2nd month of the semester I've already been feeling overwhelmed with things like graduation and post grad life; for some reason doing this calmed me because I felt like I have a grasp on what needs to get done this month.

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AhHh I've been gone for a while because spring semester started up! I've been super busy with work, classes and preparing for life after graduation and it's all giving me so much anxiety. Today I officially have 100 days left until I graduate undergrad with my bachelors in anthropology (which sounds really crazy to me), however, aside from how panicky I feel I'm going to try and document these last 100 days the best I can and share it with you guys!

Anyways happy studying

Taylor