Emily Ye, 11/25/20, PD 8, Day C

Emily Ye
Period 8
11/25/20
Day C

Modern Mythology 2021

Goal Setting & Growth

At this current point in time, what specific goal(s) do you have for yourself? Why?

Like all high school seniors, this time period is most stressful due to the nearing college application deadlines.  With the pandemic, I feel lucky to be able to stay home and have all the time I need to work on my essays, but I also feel more stressed as teachers begin assigning more work as each cycle passes. In the past, I had problems with time management and often procrastinate  on my assignments. However, this habit needs to be fixed as I grow older and progress to the next chapter of my life. My goal right now is to maintain a perfect balance between working on school assignments, working on my college essays, and also having free time to relax and destress. Although I have been pretty good at keeping up with my homework deadlines, I have not been spending enough time working on perfecting my college essays. I have already completed my major personal statement but I have not worked on my school specific supplemental essays enough. I also have a habit of staying up late at night in order to finish all my assignments so I do not have to worry about them, but I have noticed that it hasn’t been very beneficial to my health. With my lack of sleep, I feel tired and stressed all the time. There are 24 hours in a day yet, I always feel like there’s not enough time. I would need to find a way to divide those 24 hours to allow me to work on all of my assignments and essays, but also leaving enough free time. 

How do you demonstrate resilience towards achieving this goal? (or these goals?)

As I am easily distracted, it is hard for me to maintain focus on my work. Especially with all the electronics that I am near, I feel as if I can take a little break from what I am doing. However, those “little breaks” always end up being hours long. To refrain from doing this, I usually put my phone under my bed so that I won’t be so inclined to look at it. I have also closed any unnecessary tabs and windows on my computer so that I can focus on my work. I found that with this method, I was able to stay focused for hours, allowing me to complete my work on time and still have free time afterwards to relax. However, there are times where I feel very stiff from sitting and working for hours, so I allow myself to relax for about 20 minutes after I have worked for an hour. With this, I am able to stay concentrated and finish my homework. I did this when working on my early college applications last month and it worked pretty well. As for my sleep schedule, it is something that I am still working on. I try to make sure that I am always in bed before or around 2 A.M (yes that is still late, but it is actually pretty early from what it used to be before). The most important thing for me, is to have an optimistic mindset. Reminding myself that I can accomplish anything motivates me to work harder to achieve it. 

How does the world around you affect your perception of this goal? (or these goals?)

As I’m procrastinating, I would be scrolling through social media, watching different videos. Occasionally, I would come across one about school work or college applications. These videos have always scared me or made me feel anxious about my own work. In the comment section, there are always people that feel the same way as I do: stressed. Seeing these videos and comments reminds me that I am not the only one that feels that way and plenty of people around the world feels the same way. I used to think that I was the only one who was lagging behind everyone but, I realized  that there are also others that are struggling to write their essays just like I am. With that, I started reaching out to friends for help and asked friends if they needed help as well. As we are all in a difficult time with the pandemic, it is important that we work together to get through this. Having friends edit my essays and editing theirs have made me see things from a different perspective and allowed me to learn of ways to improve my work. I think it is essential that we all help each other to achieve our goals since we may learn from each other. After all, every experience and everything we do can be a learning experience.