The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

It's a question that is becoming more and more frequent in my mind: should I study three extra hours or get a good night's sleep? Is it really worth it to go to the gym when I have a test in two days? Which is more important, my health (surely in the short run only) or doing well on a test?

I make beautiful, super-fantastic plans. This is me, writing in my planner Friday night: wake up tomorrow at 6:30am, workout for 45 mins or an hour, eat a good breakfast (something with heart healthy whole grains and a good amount of protein) and commence studying by 8:30am. Good, awesome. I go to bed smiling to myself - I'm really going to crush the Boards.
What really happens: my eyes open and by the way my body feels (actually well rested and wholesome), I know it's definitely not 6:30am. I keep my eyes up at the ceiling praying it's only say, 8:30am. That wouldn't be so bad....I could just skip the gym, swap the heart healthy breakfast for coffee and a banana (they're full of potassium, right?) and still crush the Boards. Even on an empty stomach. So I look at the clock. It's 10:30am. What?!? How could I have possibly allowed my body to get the sleep it needs?? Did I even hear my alarm clock? When did I turn it off? Arrgghhh, etc.

Of course, you know my whole day is ruined. I shall fail the Boards, never get a real job, end up working 12am to 10am shifts at a 24-hr McDonald's and eventually wind up homeless and penniless on the streets. So I convince myself that since I'm late already, I'll go to the gym for half an hour AND eat a good breakfast. Studying from 12pm to as late as I can manage is not really so bad. Especially if I skip the movie I planned to watch with N tonight. Again. It's just a movie, right?

Luckily, that didn't happen today. Today was better. I planned to get to the library at 8am when it opened, but I got here at 9am. Instead of getting up at 7:15am like I planned, I got up at 8am. What's 45 minutes between friends, you ask. Nothing, I respond. I will study until 8pm when the library closes, get a work out at the gym, do some much needed apartment cleaning and then go to bed. That will be a good day. (If I can make it happen....i.e. not take a nap in the middle of the afternoon when the going gets tough.)

My study break is over. Back to learning all the intimate details about Streptococcus agalactiae. God knows, the Boards love those little critters.