Blocked...

I have an awful phobia of writing college entrance essays. My mind goes blank and I just freeze. This doesn't happen with resumes, just entrance essays. I have a deadline coming up in a month, but it's not as easy as "just write it." I’ve been hearing that for years, as well as telling myself that, and it's not working. Any thoughts or methods people use or any other advice? 

"Know your strengths, know your weaknesses, and know how to protect yourself from your weaknesses." 

I came across this quote just a couple of weeks ago and it applies to your situation. You already know that you struggle with essays, so you have to pull out the full combat armor and gather your troops to get through this. My suggestion: 

This weekend or next weekend at the very latest, get a friend to come over to your house with a laptop. Talk out loud about what you want to say in the essay while your friend types your thoughts. Then, organize those ideas into an outline. Continue to talk about the guts of each section of the outline while your friend continues to type. Feed your friend some good food. Talk and type, talk and type. Take a look at what you have. It’s taking shape. Mold and squeeze and edit and spell check what you have. Have your friend look at it. Take your friend’s suggestions. See?  It’s great! Turn it in. 

DO NOT spend any more time trying to figure out why you go blank or why you just can’t do it. Analyze why your mind goes blank AFTER you ship off your essay. Your job is to get this done, and you need someone to help you. Don’t second-guess this, just get the help.  

Protect yourself from your weaknesses so you can fully express your strengths. Get this behind you so you can go to school.

Stress!!

How do I build in time to not feel so stressed?

The key words are already in your question- you have to deliberately build in the time. There are some stressors that are inevitable, such as work deadlines, and sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and deal. My boss calls it “getting the elephant through the snake.” At the same time, if a job feels like endless stress, you may need to reevaluate if you need to be there.

Go to a mountain top or sit in a café with a friend or lock yourself in a room with only a pen and paper and think/talk about what a less-stressed life looks like for you. Express your wildest thoughts, because you’re reshaping your life. It’s a radical act. Once you come up with some ideas, let your spouse/friend/brother/cousin know that you plan to go to the hot yoga class on Wednesdays and Fridays or that you will buy art supplies and spend an hour on Saturday mornings attempting to capture the true essence of your dog on canvas. Have people hold you accountable for your commitment to increased chillaxin’. Good luck!

Delete or not?

Is there ever a good time to delete a comment from your Facebook thread?

Delete based on your own Facebook code of ethics. It’s your page.

My own prompts for hitting the delete button:
1. Prolonged argumentative scribblings.
2. “Jokes” that rub me the wrong way (violent, racist, sexist, etc).
3. Anything that puts my BIDNESS out there without my OK. I like to embarrass myself on my own terms.