Flow

The last three mornings, I rose from bed with a heavy chest. This morning, in particular, was the heaviest because I carried home the burden of two major submissions for both work and school held off from completion.

The work-related one involved revisiting three full-blown feature stories I submitted to our national editors in December last year for our annual magazine. I finished writing them last year, or so I thought, only to come back and haunt me this week. I struggled, I dare say, dealing with the editor overseeing the revisions and throwing unnecessary questions to stretch my drafts. Yesterday, we debated what makes a success story. I wanted to reflect transparency at all costs, while she wanted pure beauty. I saw no point in wasting time making her understand when it was cloudy. I put her queries aside yesterday, even if she was up for discussions at nearly 5 PM. I figured it was best to come back after consulting my workmate in charge of the livelihood projects we are featuring.

Regarding graduate school, I was concerned about meeting the deadline for the thesis outline submission, which is on Monday next week. The revisions from the Office of the Graduate School took two rounds because I forgot to attach my literature cited section. Working on the draft was manageable, but the submission has particularly been challenging because I am not around VSU, so I had to seek assistance from our department, my adviser, and some friends to submit my paper to the Office of the Graduate School. Yesterday, the official notice for the additional corrections arrived around 4 in the afternoon. I was hesitant to hassle the people I contacted to pick up my paper and note the revisions. It was almost time to go home.

These burdens I carried back home, to dinner and bed, and they rightly added weight to my chest. But ironically, tonight, as I draft this, I feel better.

Earlier, I asked another set of classmates to have my edited outline resubmitted to the OGS. After talking to my workmate, I also revisited my drafts on Google Docs before 5 PM. Before hitting the road home, my editor forwarded my stories to our national directors, who will have the final say.

Completing big tasks before the day ends sounds fashionable to the ears of an idealist, which is partly my characteristic. But this week, I observed a passive attitude in my system that took over when I felt drained. The takeaway is the recognition that things take time to take shape.

One needs to acknowledge the natural flow of things and the laws that govern the beauty and ordeal of the world. Chasing does not always work. When such is the case, it’s best and pretty to watch the stream flow and take action when the timing is right.