MORNING PEP TALK

Yesterday at 6:35 AM, staring at myself in the bathroom mirror, I struggled to muster the energy to begin my morning routine of getting ready for work.  All Spring my co-workers have been warning and teasing me about how busy, stressful, and, well, horrible summer is for our office.  I listened and laughed along, but never really believed that it could be that bad.  I mean, I lived through summers in Ukraine doing camp after camp after camp...some of the most physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausting work anyone can do.  If I can survive those summers unscathed, then I can do anything.  I won't go into how scathed I actually was by those summers...another post maybe...but rather will stay on topic of summers working in Financial Aid.  Well, my faithful readers, summer in Fin Aid does suck.  They were right!  It's tough, constant work.  Down time comes when the system shuts down for a few minutes here and there, or an unexpected lull of in-coming calls.  Those are rare, though.  Sweet and rare. We are having to do things manually in the system that are usually done automatically during the Fall and Spring.  Three terms (Spring, Summer, and Fall) of awarding financial aid are converging into 4 months of hell.  The reports never end, the applications keep coming, and rarely do I not see that red "You Have a Message" light blinking on my phone.  I'm tensing up just typing about it!  I'm even having dreams about this job!  Some are ridiculous, of course, like when people from my office and I were spies in an underground tunnel.  Some, though, are exactly like I'm right back here in the office.  Not good. 

So, yesterday, I had to give myself a pep talk.  I had to remind myself that this is just a job.  That I don't have to bring it home with me.  That I can turn off my computer at 5 PM (more like 7 PM these days, as I've been working late to relieve any future anxiety), go home, and not think about work.  I reminded myself that if I can survive summers filled with interns, Ukrainian and American teenagers, English campus, rafting camps, sun burns, no hot water, no electricity, language barriers, camp dances, attempts at translating, sharing my apartment, hosting, teaching, traveling on buses/trains/vans/cars for hours, hurt feeling, sharing the Gospel, and building purposeful relationships....then I can survive Financial Aid.  Then I brushed my teeth.