Yesterday, I was reading about a young entrepreneur who thought of his home as a sanctuary after a chaotic day at work. It made me look around (I’m not young nor am I an entrepreneur) at my own home. On a daily basis, I barely register what’s around me! I don’t have the time to drink it all in! And I am glad I don’t, because it would send me into a frenzy of cleaning J I hardly ever sit on the nice, but inexpensive, outdoor furniture set that was bought so I could enjoy the nice backyard that first prompted to move to this particular house! The plan was to breathe the fresh air and drink in the changing colors of fall and instead the only reason I check weather.com is to decide whether traffic will be reasonable to get to downtown on time or to decide the thickness of the jacket to wear today!!!

           In observing how deprived my life was, I had an epiphany.  I existed between deadlines and was becoming emotionally numb although my chosen profession and the purpose of my fighting traffic everyday was to help others change and become more in touch with their emotional lives. Maybe I’m meant to learn to get more connected with my life, learn to live a life that’s relatively stress free (although life and stress free in the same sentence don’t make sense to me right now) and grow both personally and professionally! I can’t let publishing papers and presenting at conferences define my daily life! I can’t let my midterm (that I have to pass to move to the next set of courses) that’s due this coming week take away the pleasure of watching rabbits run around in my backyard!

      Now that I have made my protest, let me get back to studying for that midterm and writing that paper that was due yesterday.