Time For Some R&R

A lot of things motivate me, but there's one that I seem to want after a long week and that is Relaxation. Just to be able to get away from studying is what I crave on a Monday night where I'm knee-deep in work. First of all, I haveto define relaxation because sometimes when a person reads the word relaxation from a college student it instantly means partying. Well sometimes, yes, partying is in the equation, but just to get away from studying and be in a worry-free state of mind is the absolute best reward. This weekend, instead of having fun oncampus,my getaway was a lacrosse tournament at West Point, on Army's campus (more beautiful than SU's I must say). I wouldn't have been able to go if my motivation wasn't at the right level to get my work done. So, to better explain how I got the chance to get away from doing work, I'll take you back to the events leading up to my reward...

On Sunday night, I thought I was doomed for all eternity aka my normal anxiety kicked in. I had a test on Tuesday morning for PSY 205 and another exam Wednesday, which was CHE 116 (the class I have been struggling the most in). I kept thinking that I should have studied more for each even though I had been since all the way back to the previous week. With there being much information and especially many experimenters that we needed to know for the PSY 205 exam I knew that I had to do something to remember them all. So, to keep my motivation up and my hopes, I used what Dr. B had taught us in class the week before (Link System). I started picking apart the experimenter's names and then pairing them with what they were famous for. For example, E.C. Tolman was known for his contributions in Latent Learning. So, what I did to remember the link between Tolman and Latent Learning was I told myself that "Tents are tall" or in this case "Tol". Using this method for psych lowered my frustration and actually made it fun to use my own imagination to link people to what their known for. I was getting closer to "worry-free" I could just feel it.

When I was through with my Psych exam Tuesday morning, I switched into Chemistry mode. This class has caused me more stress than I've ever experienced, especially my first exam grade, which was not pretty. My professor even expressed concern on my mid-semester report:

His concern was something that wasn't a surprise to me. I know my status in that class is not well and the fact that I haven't done all that I can to succeed in that class is something that I'm trying to change. When I received my midsemester report, I wanted to show my professor that I was concerned with my success as well, and that's why I made it a point to also make an internal motivator last week: I wanted to prove to myself that I can do well in Chemistry. So I did what I've avoided all semester, I went to my Chemistry professor's office hours a week before the test and wouldn't you know I LOVED IT! After the first fifteen minutes doing practice problems, my confidence in that class shot up about ten points. I then proceeded to go Monday and Tuesday the week of the test to get in a little extra study time. I also studied on my own and practiced problems nonstop for the test. It all paid off because I exceeded my expectations in that class and got a grade above from what I was hoping for. Receiving that reward of confidence even before the exam has made my internal motivator even stronger than it was before; but I must say, the grade a damn good reward, too.

With that all said, the rest of the week was a piece of cake, once I got all that stress behind me and focused on my worry-free time and relaxation. Thank God for that motivation.