Weight?

Let's talk about weight loss after recovery...

Because it happened to me today.

After three months of not being weighed, I tried on a bridesmaid dress that was a little snug on me when I first tried it on 10 weeks ago and it was alarmingly loose a few days ago. As a silly girl I got on the scale at a wedding shower today and was several pounds below my goal weight.

Was I trying to lose weight? 

No. 

Not at all. 

However, I have been busier than I have been in years. Just this past week I worked 26 hours and was in class 18 hours, which equals a 44 hour week. Sounds like a typical college student, right? Of course it does, but I would like to make the argument that being that busy is overwhelming.

There are so many things involved in being a college student that don't have anything to do with being in class.

Work.  

Most kids have to work just to have spending money.

Studying.  

On top of class and work time we are required to find time to focus and study.

Social. 

So that leaves very little time to be social, especially if you work on weekends in your spare time.

This is an overwhelming time. 

Work or go to class?

Be social and go out with friends or study?

Be socially exhausted after a day of class or work (like me) and 

go home and crash or push yourself to be social?

I'm twenty-six years old and I still struggle with this balance. How are eighteen-year-old college students supposed to find that balance? Let alone figure out what they want to do for the rest of their lives? Heck, it took me years and a life-altering experience to figure it out. How is my younger brother with no real life expedience, like most college students, supposed to figure it out? 

In my humble opinion, I think this is one of the many places our society struggles. Knowing what you want to do for the rest of your life at eighteen years old is an impossible expectation. So why send kids to college at that age knowing where they stand in life?! It's bizarre. I didn't know what I wanted to to do at 18 when I started school and failed out as a result. 

It's stupid. 
I'm not stupid. 
Our society is.

So as I continue to find myself post-recovery and watch some close friends of mine enter the big, scary work force, please know it is okay to be lost. No one knows what they want in the beginning. That first job isn't supposed to be your dream job. Take it one day at a time and enjoy your current circumstances.

I can honestly say regardless of my current situation and still being in school,  
I am happier than I have ever been in my entire life. 
I am independent.
I have a loving boyfriend.
I have friends who care deeply for me.
I am a bridesmaid in an upcoming wedding.
I feel accepted.

Progress.