finding balance

One of my biggest struggles right now is finding the right balance of my time. To be honest, this is nothing new; I have never been a very disciplined student. In fact, I used to joke in undergrad that not only was I not “on the ball”, I had never even seen the ball. I am hoping to better manage my time in grad school, but recently a couple of other activities have been competing for my attention.

Last Friday as I was perusing the aisles of Target a guy came up to me and asked if I was interesting in going to a private screening of a new movie. Usually I would not hesitate to say no and keep moving when so approached, but I had been warned. This is actually a very legitimate and common occurrence here in Pasadena. They often test screen new movies and then survey the audience to see what worked and what didn’t. Knowing that this was not some shady proposition, I quickly said yes to the free movie tickets. So Sunday afternoon a friend and I walked to one of the nearby theaters and watched the new Disney movie Eight Below. The story is basically about explorers forced to leave their team of sled dogs behind in Antarctic and their desperate attempt to return and rescue them from the brutal cold. It is not a movie I probably would have chosen to go see at the theater, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. It was a good inspirational family movie and should be in theaters in February.

Also vying for my time is the Psychology Graduate Union (PGU), part of Fuller’s All Seminary Council. That’s right, I joined the student government. As much as I have avoided these forms of campus involvement in the past, I am excited about my position. Being part of the PGU MFT (Marriage and Family Therapy) Cabinet, I will help represent my fellow classmates to the faculty and help bring about changes throughout the school. I am also the MFT representative to the Peace and Justice Concerns Committee. This committee is focused on building awareness of issues relating to social justice as well as participating in the amelioration of these problems. While at this time I am still not entirely sure of my exact duties, I have a feeling I will stay plenty busy.

Now that I have taken the time to thoughtfully rationalize my procrastination, I should probably work on my outline that is due Monday.