11 April, 2012

When life gets tough in grad school, you have to just keep going

It's easy for me to complain about or feel sorry for myself and the all-too-full plate I've gotten into as a result of very deliberate choices I've made over the past years. This week, I'm:
*taking my general knowledge doctoral preliminary exam (2nd of 2 prelims - assuming I pass, I'll have crossed into the world of being a dissertator!)
*working on two group projects for classes (that I'm taking toward being eligible to do a dietetic internship after I finish the PhD)
*doing a glucose tolerance test for gestational diabetes (routine screening, but it was still 2 hours at the doctor's office with 3 blood draws and a 75g glucose dose... yum?! - luckily I passed that with flying colors this morning!)
*getting my house ready for an open house (we're selling, since Brandon's job is an hour outside of the city... I move in just 6 weeks to the apartment where he's been living since last June)

As I try to study these last 3 days for the prelim exam, I want nothing more than to crawl back into bed and sleep. My body keeps begging for 9-10 hours of sleep each night - far more than my non-pregnant self ever needs! - and for exercise (who wouldn't want to be outside on lovely sunny days, even if it's only 41F?). And I've been in a mood to cook! The asparagus in our yard, now well-established and producing prolifically, is up and the rhubarb is also up. I want to find creative uses for both (not together, probably) - to taste the sweet fruits of home-grown vegetables picked so freshly.

At the same time, I want to sit and cry for so many people in my circles who are in pain or dealing with much longer-term crises, to lift them in prayer. There is a man in our church whose father just died after a very quick bout of cancer. A friend has a 3-week-old who was diagnosed with phenylketonuria (PKU), requiring extremely strict lifelong dietary monitoring. A couple near and dear to my heart is struggling in their relationship. Another friend is dealing with her mother's impending death after a long battle with cancer.

I guess the perspective of those trials helps give me some perspective on my own trials - but I wish I could do and be more to support them rather than feeling the need to attend to my own immediate needs and priorities.

Thanks for listening, whoever you are!