It’s funny, I recently wrote a post about time management and now I haven’t posted in nearly two weeks. I suppose that I still have a lot of room for improvement when it comes to managing my time.

To be honest, this semester has already been a lot.

Between the general workload of nursing school combined with applying for jobs for after graduation, I have been completely overwhelmed. That overwhelm led to sheer exhaustion last week, as it so often does. When life moves so fast, and there are countless deadlines to meet, and to-do lists are a mile long, I tend to stop taking care of myself. I barely ate a proper meal last week, I did not get enough sleep, I did not exercise other than a few light rides on Flynn, and I stayed dehydrated. It is no wonder that I crashed over the weekend.

I realized that I simply cannot live that way anymore. Despite all I have to do, I have to make myself slow down.

This week, nature forced many of us here in Texas to do just that. A hurricane came through yesterday, causing school to be cancelled. Luckily, my area was not dramatically impacted so I was able to rest and get caught up on things like grocery shopping and housework. I always feel so much better when those basic life things are taken care of.

When I think about slowing down, I also look at my animals – especially the horses. Most of us horse people are well attuned to the fact that horses are on their own timeline. Most of them hate to be rushed. I think that I need to live more like them. Rushing through life completely overwhelmed is often a choice. Though some circumstances may be unavoidable, but when it comes to work or school, I believe it is a choice. I can choose to take care of myself because my health and wellbeing are more important than my grades. They just are. If I fall apart, I won’t be able to do much of anything. There is just no excuse for not having proper meals, water, or sleep. No goal is worth sacrificing my well-being for because what will be left of me when I get there?

So this week, I am taking a page from my horses’ (and dog’s) book and slowing down no matter what.