I'm breathing a sigh of relief as we end the eighth week of autumn quarter, where we had a short little three-day week wedged before Thanksgiving. It's been a busy past two months, frantically trying to complete the appropriate credits that I need to graduate in the spring. While it's been a bit mentally and physically tough on me, I like to think I'm a lot more self-aware this time around and have been taking slightly better care of myself. There's not much I can do about the workload or commute, but I just wanted to share two things that I've realized this season that have helped keep me grounded.
It's Not That Big of a Deal
Admittedly, I used to overthink everything. Situations used to escalate uncontrollably in my head, and before I knew it, I'd be in a mood over something that never even happened. Or I'd run scenarios over and over again in my mind and obsess over what-ifs. What if I got a better grade on this exam? What if I had said the wrong thing in a social situation?Overthinking got tiring. Quickly. It reached a point earlier this autumn quarter where I was constantly stressing about everything, so I took a step back and asked myself why I was stressing out. In the grand scheme of things, life will work itself out. I can't change the past, and many of the things I was worrying about were things that were relatively out of my control. In other words, that's just how it be sometimes. Sometimes you just have to let things be, and worrying won't change anything.
Aware of Assumptions
As a user experience designer, I like to think that I'm doing a decent job of being aware of my assumptions. I'm quick to recognize my assumptions about users in my work, and I have no trouble applying this to my professional life. But somehow, I still have a tendency to jump to conclusions and make too many assumptions about how the people around me feel.I'm working on more openly communicating my thoughts to my friends and making fewer guesses about their thoughts. You don't really know what people are thinking until you ask. Similarly, I have to be honest with them about how I feel and be more open in communicating what I need.
