Graduate school is no joke, y’all. It is hard. Not necessarily because of the material. Don’t get me wrong, the material is intense. I took the hardest test of my life two weeks ago and barely survived. I have never struggled with test anxiety or “blanking” during a test – until our last speech science test (still have not gotten a grade back on that one… but I digress). But yes, the material is hard, but the schedule is harder. There are so many assignments, papers, books, discussions, tests, and more assignments floating around this quadrant.
But in addition to school work, I am now seeing clients in the clinic! Which is amazing and mind-blowing at the same time. If you are surprised I am already seeing people, you are no more surprised than I am. Seeing clients is amazing and a wonderful opportunity to tie what I am learning into real life, nitty gritty moments. However, this means hours of work pre-session, then the session, and then more work post-session. Goals must be assessed, data is analyzed, SOAP notes written, and a supervisor meeting – then take everything you discussed and add it to the next session. Begin the process over again.
All that to say, I have not been reading as much as I am used to or as much as I want. Reading has taken a back-burner during these initial few weeks before school. I’m still reading, but I have not finished a book since… school started. But I have regained control of my schedule and I’m getting up at 5:00 now for time in the Word and time to read – both of which had been sadly neglected. It has been amazing and a wonderful start to my day with some peace, some hot tea, and some good words.
As I begin (Lord willing) to finish books again, I will be updating my book review part of this site. Reading is my hobby and I have sorely missed it. I’m only 23 books away from my yearly goal of 52. We’ll see if I can pull that together in three months!