Sweetie, be kind to yourself -- you so did NOT "completely fail". You're just doing what we all need to do from time to time, which is move things around a little bit and make some adjustments. It's an adaptation, not a shortcoming. (Dinosaurs are the ones who keep doing the same thing over and over again, and you see what happened to them!)



Think of it as "rebalancing your portfolio." Many happy returns!

I agree with Jen: you're rebalancing and recalibrating, not failing. You'll come out of it saner and healthier.

not sure about saner :P

I think everyone at some point needs to take a break. When people started to talk to me like I was crazy and my doctor kept telling me to learn to "control stress" I realized I needed to do something. I thought extreme stress was normal! It's not and I am learning to take care of myself. Be kind to yourself.

it's a shame we can't talk to our felines and tell them to relax.
x

so you're taking a break from school to reduce stress and in its place you're taking TWO INTENSIVE SUMMER COURSES? i think you should go to the nearest massage therapy school and sign up as a test subject!

most of us can barely handle personal-work life, let alone adding schooling in there.

B77 ethnography?? awesome.

chris, see the thing is that i want to get this damn MA over with! it's now a never-ending experience whereas i originally thought it would only take 2 years!

yes, B77- i think it would be an interesting study of people and locations- and the added bonus of IKEA opens up a whole other area to look at. the route is definitely a connector on a variety of levels.

B77 ethnography?? Sweet!

Sorry you became overwhelmed. I certainly am. I'm having one of those "How did I do it last semester?!" moments.

Loved this post. The photo is fantastic. Sorry your cat is having problems. Interesting creatures, Cats. I agree with your other comments-- Your doing just fine--just shuffling your priority's around. You sound like a pretty together young lady.

Poor baby! We had a dachshund named Rocky who had an armpit licking problem. Turns out it was acanthosis nigricans. A nasty little problem which went on forever until I INSISTED they do a culture/sensitivity of the skin. When the test came back with the bacterium and the correct antibiotic, Rocky was in heaven. Two days on the med and the itching/licking had stopped.

A huge point in favor of testing to see what organism is growing and exactly what antibiotic will work on it.

Any chance cats can get acanthosis nigricans? Worth a question to your vet if this remains a mystery diagnosis....

Just a thought....

Hope Olive gets better soon!

Gena in Michigan

Not that you prolly need to hear it again at this point, but you totally didn't punk out.

Like others have said, most of us have enough difficulty doing the work/personal juggle thing. Throw school in there... and Whoa! You gotta take a break eventually.

I know, because I did the same thing. I quit my software pre-sales job, went back to school full time for interior design, worked selling furniture, and tried to manage my personal life as I went through a major move, separation, divorce, then got married again. Talk about a meltdown.

I finally had to re-prioritize, and went back to selling software for The Man. I wasn't meant to be a designer - not professionally, anyway. So as hard as it was for me, and as much as it felt like a defeat (it really did), I now know I did the right thing.

And if it's meant to be, one day I'll get back to it. In the meantime, I enjoy being very well educated in one of my favorite pastimes!

Hang in there, take care of yourself, and you'll dive right back in when your batteries are charged.

Oh, and here's hoping your Oybean figures it all out. We had a cat that was a licker too - we figured it was because he was the only male cat in a house with 5 females. Poor thing. Can't blame him, eh? So it's not entirely uncommon. I'm sure you'll get to the bottom of it soon. Lucky him to have such a great kitty mommy.

I hope all goes well with your cat.