Assignment 8 Danielle Dutton

Fears – falling, those weird bugs that look like eyebrows and move faster than bugs should be able to move, sometimes I’m afraid of things I don’t understand

Annoyances – hypocrisy (which I realize is hypocritical in and of itself because everyone is hypocritical sometimes), criticizing others before noticing your own deficiencies, SLOW WALKERS

Accomplishments – having a 4.0 and being very involved in extracurriculars and by some miracle also still having a social life

Confusions – why people, especially lawmakers, are so incredibly unwilling to compromise; also sometimes I just overthink existence which just leads to a spiral of general confusion

Sorrows – staying sane with all my responsibilities and busy schedule

Dreams – graduate college debt free, get a job I love and have enough financial stability fairly quickly to do some travelling and enjoy life a little

Idiosyncrasies – I’m very mathematically minded and pattern oriented

Risks – doing a foreign exchange and band camp last summer so I had approximately one free week to do quite literally all of my summer homework

Beloved Possessions, Now and Then – my dog (though I’d consider her more than just a possession), my flute, my planner (I would probably go insane without it)

Problems – taking on too much, being too willing to accept responsibilities and then dealing with more stress than I need to

The fact that having too many responsibilities is on the list for both accomplishments and problems shows how prevalent this issue is in my life. I’m always busy. I never really get a break. Responsibilities come from school, homework, marching band, theater, being a preschool Sunday school teacher at my church, still having friends and spending time with them, and various other things I (probably unwisely) take on. All year round I’m just as busy. Marching band starts three weeks before school starts all day every day and continues almost every day for a substantial amount through the end of October just in time for the auditions for the winter play and spring musical a week or two later. After that I’m thrown into theater, flute private lessons, and after school band rehearsals for the rest of the school year. The end of the year brings extra responsibilities with the huge stressors of tech and performance weeks for the musical, drum major trainings and auditions for band, band concerts, AP testing, and finals. Year round my Sundays are committed to teaching the preschoolers at my church. All of junior year brings big projects in addition to regular homework. Unit assignments, web homework, blog posts, wind ensemble playing tests. So much work to do in so little time. And of course having an intense perfectionism makes life so much better too. Not only do I have to do all the work but I have to get it done on time and perfectly, a completely doable request which lends itself to zero stress, right? Right. But I guess it really is all my choice. Oh well.