Student Blog: Something's Gotta Give

People who know me know that stress is just a part of the Leah Fridman lifestyle. I am always so very busy and I most definitely do not understand the meaning of the word “moderation.” As it stands now I am a dual major working away at two brain demanding degrees which I am very passionate about. I work as a campus tour guide, am on the executive board for Oneonta’s chapter of the Alpha Psi Omega Theater Honor Society, and am opening a production of the Tempest in a few weeks. On top of that I have a scene shop hour requirement for my stagecraft class, about 2-3 projects at a time that needed to be edited and proofed for publishing, and somehow somewhere in there I have to work in time to eat, sleep, do laundry and maybe just maybe have a social life. 

To the average human being, this sounds like the Google Calender of a rather insane individual. But I have found that for the average theater person this is still somewhat on the easier side. I have never met a person involved in the theater world with a wide open schedule, one way or another all of us are booked, blessed, and busy!

Because my day to day schedule is always so overloaded I have picked up a few tips and tricks to managing it without feeling like I am carrying the world on my shoulders as I go about my day. So without further ado! 

I Love Lists! Lists are a great way to visualize all you have to do in a day/week, and crossing off items on a to-do list feels like Christmas morning came early. In high school I used to have a journal separate from my other notebooks/planners that was simply for to-do lists and for writing out  my daily itinerary. I would schedule myself down to the minute including meal breaks, time for brief naps and time to scroll on my phone. Everything had a certain time allotment so I could visually and plainly see that I had enough hours in the day to get everything done. In college I became a Google Calendar fiend. Every hangout, study session and event gets written down so I’m never confused about where I am supposed to be or what I am supposed to be doing. In order to stay calm I often turn on 'auto pilot' as I walk around campus, this system is a good one until I look up and realize I have no idea why I am where I am. Having my daily schedule at my fingertips, whether that be in my Google Calender, a list in a journal, or a note I write with a pen on the side of my arm, I make sure I know what my day will look like. Becoming your own drill sergeant helps you stay conscious and active in your busy life, and makes you feel in control. Don’t let your schedule run your life! Run your life on your schedule! 

Even though I may schedule and time things out to the minute, I give myself realistic time blocks within that. I am not a robot, I am a human person who needs time to process and transition between activities and assignments. Given these undeniable truths, I try to give myself a reasonable minimum of an hour to half an hour block in between my school day and theater responsibilities. If I am done with my scene shop hours at 5pm and don’t have rehearsal till 7pm, I don’t cram homework into those two hours, those two hours are for me to get food, see my friends if there is time, have a concrete thought and just relax. 

I have found that in life the things that seem the weirdest to you are often the most effective. This certaintly applies to my next tidbit of advice: floor time. Every day I try to find a relatively clean area on the ground, lie down flat on my back and just close my eyes. Floor time is for grounding myself into the present and trying to cast off the aura of stress before it closes in on my physical form. The more I ground myself into my body the better my connection to my wellbeing is, I can understand what I need at that moment and take the steps to take care of myself so I can continue on with my day. Floor time is good time. Though I may get side-eyes from professors and my peers while I lie on the floor of the Fine Arts building in broad daylight, I know in my heart of hearts I am doing what is best for me.  

And there isn’t always time in my day for everything! Some days it hits 11pm and I still have more reading to do, lines to memorize or a paper to write, but I know that something’s gotta give.  And it can’t be my sanity. 11pm is my absolute stop time, every night. No matter what. My phone goes on do not disturb, I close my laptop and call it a night. I have the power and the free will necessary to work into the night and get three hours of sleep just to do it all again the next day, no one is stopping me from making that choice. If I wanted to I could burn the candle on both ends, and there was a time in my life where I did. I pushed myself to get everything done as fast as I could and kept going for as long as it took to get through it all,  even if it meant that I didn’t sleep or eat or have any time just to relax. 

But it’s when you hit that point that things like theater start becoming a chore, as opposed to an active passionate full hearted choice that you make everyday. You’ll start losing your love for the simpler beautiful things in life because either you don’t have time for them anymore, or you’re too burnt out to see the magic of the world right in front of you. 

When you’re sleep deprived, it seems like the entire world hates you. And when you aren’t eating regular meals and staying hydrated, you’re going to hate the entire world. 

So yes, sometimes something’s gotta give. But never ever should that something be you or your sanity. That assignment can wait another day. Make the decision to go to sleep earlier and wake up earlier to get those lines memorized. Make your health and wellness your first priority so you can power through that busy schedule of yours for another week more. It doesn’t make you weak or stupid or lazy if you need to slow down and take care of yourself. Just because you can get it all done, does not mean you should, do not become a theater doing robot. Be kind to yourself so you can be grounded in your present and do the kind of work you deserve to be able to do at your best.