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Balance Is a Four-Letter Word
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Palmquist, Kelly |
| Copyright Year | 2016 |
| Abstract | Thomas Merton once said, "Happiness is not a matter of intensity, but of balance, order, rhythm, and harmony." So often in the hustle and bustle of life, we lose sight of our happiness in favor of intensity; the intensity of our schedules, the demands placed upon us, our expectations of ourselves, and our constant drive towards our ambitions. Never has this been truer for me as it is right now, in the very throes of my last semester of graduate school.I am admittedly a perfectionist when it comes to scholarly endeavors. While my car may carry an embarrassing amount of half-drank water bottles and my laundry basket is overflowing, I take some serious pride in my academic work. Even more alarming, my dinners have become items purchased out of a vending machine and I haven't been to yoga in over a month. Let's not start with the guilt of missing out on time with my husband, stepson, family, and friends. My life has become increasingly unbalanced to heavily favor my academic pursuits, with little left in the tank for what feeds my soul or makes me happy.Balancing academics, field work, a career, family, and LIFE is so much more challenging as a returning adult student than it was in my undergraduate studies. At that time I was single, worked very part-time, and was able to fully embrace the scholarly lifestyle. I now have a job and a family who have to compete with the time I spend in field and in class. I feel exhausted a good share of the time and I am living an incredibly unbalanced lifestyle. If I had any advice to give to those just starting there graduate studies it would be this: find your balance.Now that graduation is in sight, I am reflecting back on my graduate experience. I am left wondering how the experience would have differed if I had spent more time balancing my life. Would I have enjoyed reading more articles if I had taken the time to attend a yoga class (or take a nap, or both) instead of seeing how much work I could pump out during my allotted study time? Should graduate programs focus more on quality over quantity, assigning less in favor of more quality discussions and work? I am not sure what are the right answers. I've been lucky to have professors who are in touch with us, as students, and who have been accommodating while still holding us to a high standard. Yet I know, with no uncertainty, that many of my fellow graduate students have struggled in the way I have. So the following is what I propose in order for social work students to achieve balance. … |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Volume Number | 6 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://www2.simmons.edu/ssw/fe/i/Palmquist_Students_Speak.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
