Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness

Quote by Richard Carlson.

As I mentioned in my last post, I just began yet another semester of school. More specifically, it's the fall semester of my fourth and final year of undergrad and it has been the most stressful first week of college ever. I feel like I have a million pages to read (as soon as possible) and a ridiculous amount of homework on top of that (due next week). This morning (while I was crying because I couldn't handle it, which made me feel more pathetic) D tried to make me put it in perspective and said all the right things, like "You can do it," "It's only a year and then you're done," "I know that you'll finish everything on time," etc. It was all very nice to hear but it did not keep me from feeling upset at the time. So after I got done blubbering, I fixed my makeup and left for work where, surprisingly, no one has gone out of their way to annoy me (yet). In reality, I know people don't annoy other people purposely, but I think there are those people in everyone's life who are just intolerable because personalities clash.

I'm here at work and I have five hours and six minutes left, pretty much everyone knows I'm stressed beyond belief and everyone's being pretty supportive, and I have had a large quantity of coffee which will hopefully power me through the rest of the day. This evening I'm attending a mandatory party for a program I'm in at school called ATiB (Applied Technology in Business). It's a great program, but this mandatory party thing is taking a huge chunk out of one of the few free evenings I usually have to do homework and/or get things done around the house and/or have a social life. Also, I spent about three hours last night baking desserts for said party and I'm also in charge of picking up the sandwiches from Jimmy Johns and then driving myself and all the food out to Roseville (about a half hour from where I live) to a party that I will feel compelled to stay at till the very end so I can help clean up. And did I mention that I went shopping for the pop and chips and other miscellaneous party paraphrenalia on Thursday night after I got done babysitting a 2-year-old? No? I forgot to mention that? Did I also forget to mention that I have a to-do list a mile long in addition to the massive amount of homework and reading?

Tomorrow, I'm going to a local event called Arts and Apples with my dad. It should be fun but I feel compelled to call him today and tell him we'll have to focus on cutting it short. I'm disappointed because I was looking forward to spending time with him, but there are really only so many hours in a day, so I don't feel like I have much of a choice. I know everything will come together and I will feel more under control when I'm able to get things done, but I hate feeling this stressed out.