Life is slowly starting again. I have a full day of orientation tomorrow, lunch with a visiting professor Tuesday, and more orientation/training/late lunch with a friend on Wednesday. I got the syllabi for two of my classes so far and already have some reading to get started on. I'm not stressed about it because school is definitely My Thing and I love being a student but....let's just say I've gotten used to sleeping until 9.
Once upon a time I would've been totally stressed about all the pre-semester hullaballoo (....the fuck?? where did that word come from?)—happy hours, receptions, meet n' greets etc.—but I am actually looking forward to it. Maybe this is just a maturity/growing up thing, or maybe a being-less-OCD-about-food thing, but I am at a point where meeting new people and mingling at awkward cocktail hours really doesn't phase me anymore. I'm not shy; just routine-oriented and risk-averse. So if I can keep the anxiety under control, meeting new people is actually fun.
One source of stress I am dealing with right now is what shoes to wear. Now, I adore shoes and have a million pairs, but most of my nice summery ones are either fancy sandals or flats with paper-thin soles...and my foot is most definitely not up to trekking around in those just yet. Attempting to ramp up the running last week was a big no-no and my foot has been throbbing again ever since...what's also worrying me is that my other foot is sore too; not sure if it's a compensation thing, or just that even healthy feet need time to adjust to running after several weeks off, or a psychological thing (because I have a tendency to be batshit crazy) but UGH I am frustrated with myself and my feet. Mostly myself.
Soo anyway...still trying to figure out what to wear for all these events over the next few days. Nothing is super fancy but I do want to look professional. Running shoes are unfortunately out of the question, but I don't really have anything else with particularly sturdy soles and wide enough toe boxes to keep angry metatarsals placated. I have the most precious pair of wedge pumps that look great with everything and make my legs look long and thin and it makes my heart ache that I can't wear them this week. Life really is the pits sometimes.
But for the most part, I am eager beaver ready to get moving on this whole PhD thing. It's been a really weird time warp of a summer, and I definitely need some structure back to get my bearings again. I'm going to try to stop by and chat with my advisor J tomorrow on campus, and hopefully get some moral support and shore up some enthusiasm to remind myself what the point of it all is. Also I haven't seen pictures of his adorable kiddos in a long time and they must be SO BIG by now. J is one of those iPhone Era Parents who captures everything and thus has five thousand photos and videos stored at any given time. Luckily he's not the type to post them all over YouTube.
Alrighty folks I've got two new episodes of Bachelor in Paradise (judge me, I dare you) to watch, so that's a wrap. Happy Sunday everyone, keep my poor feet in your thoughts and prayers.
P.S. Some diet advice.
Glad you're eager about the semester getting started! It's great that you've worked through a lot of the anxiety about attending dinners/events etc. and now look forward to them.
ReplyDeleteI really hope you can find shoes that will work. Sounds like your feet need some TLC and good shoes that are also dressy-ish are hard to come by for that purpose. Also, sounds like not running for a while might be a good idea? Right?
Good luck with orientation and all of the events coming up!
What is the topic for your PhD? I'm glad that things are starting up again, i'm sure that in itself will provide some routine and structure for your day. Best of luck for the functions coming up this week, and essentially for the start of semester and a brand new degree.
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