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Positive Mental Attitude

Sometimes it is so easy to focus on the negatives and 'what if' but sometimes this can take over so much that you look back at the end of a day or week and realise that you've allowed no time for making the situation better.

I felt a bit like this last week. I put too much pressure on my shoulders of getting a draft complete in a short space of time and ended up feeling disappointed in myself. So I went away for a week determined to completely forget about essay's and uni work and placement and switch off (and managed it).

Our hut by the pond

I went down to Somerset for a few nights before smuggling my partner away for a few nights in a random wooden cabin in the middle of a small wooded area with nothing but tree's and a pond in sight. At this point I must remind you that I am only 29years old, and where many would see a heat-filled beach break or night of cocktails and dancing to switch off, this worked a treat for me. On arrival we were driven across a boggy field by the farmer (I got to sit on the back of the pick up in the rain on the way back and it made me feel like a very happy child!). We arrived at the cabin with mud splashes up and past our wellies and waterproofs but got to our little hut with a veranda to sit and watch the world go by and a single gas hob and woodburner inside. For those who need their mobiles-there was barely any signal and no electricity in the hut, so we relied on candle light and torches in the evenings. We lived off a pot of stew and they had built a toilet outside that required a 2minute walk through the wood...something I found difficult to adjust to at night when I heard the bushes rustling but not being able to see anything there (slight horror filmish!).

Anyway...he enjoyed it too and it was nice to just be so relaxed and not worry about anything other than topping up the burner with wood and when the candles would burn down. When we made it back to civilisation we continued the relaxation and had six hours of just reading a book (not one that was needed to be read for nursing either!) and catching the sunshine.

On the train back yesterday I did a little reflecting and felt a slow familiar panic rising that was the same sensation as I had felt last week when thinking about my university work. Hopeless. But then after a small consumption of caffeine and sugar I tried to figure out a new technique to get back into my writing...and this is what I tried this morning.

I figured that during my written exam a few weeks ago I wrote around 11pages of answers in the two hour period and realised if I can write that much under pressure, how could I sit in front of my laptop for 5days and write a few hundred words? So this morning I had Word open ready for 9pm and set my phone timer for 2hrs. During this time I had my phone on flight-mode and had all webpages closed excluding a link to a policy I needed for my project. I wasn't allowed to leave my desk for anything other than bathroom break and had a bottle of water at the desk. No distractions. And guess what? I managed around 600words. Success!

I realised then that if my head is not into a piece of work, assigning day after day to be sat in front of it will just feel like a life sentence with nothing greener on the other side. I also realise that I work less productively in the afternoons so rather than online shopping to pass the time like last week (can't afford it if I want to buy a car in summer!) then I could instead do things like this blog or little bits of research towards the project.

Odie says PMA!

So that is me for this week...still waiting for my exam results but to be fair they are allowed up to four weeks to mark our work before releasing grades and with one hundred or so students to mark with 5-15pages to mark for each person, they'll probably take the maximum time! So may have some news on that next week. I have my official start of placement next week starting on Tuesday so will be my final ever countdown...all of my work and placement will be complete in 12weeks time! 
 
 
Hope things are ok in your world!

Em x

PMA!