The week before qualifying exams, I sort of– almost like you do when you’re training for a marathon or a half marathon, you slow down on how much you’re studying and what you’re forcing yourself to do. Because you know that there’s only so much more you can shove into your head and what you really need to be is well-rested. And I actually booked myself a day-long yoga retreat the Saturday before qualifying exams started.
I gave myself a lot of space to be really mentally healthy and to do something that I enjoyed and that I wanted, even though I hadn’t yet accomplished it. So I was very glad that I didn’t say like, well, self, when you’re done, then you can have the nice things. I was like, you can have these nice things now because you deserve them and they will make you healthier and happier next week.
And that was great. I think I had so much stress. I feel like I probably went in the most tightly coiled person. And then I got to loosen up a little bit.