~classicfan

Still, good to hear from you. Same goes for me though, university is so time consuming and there's often not as much time for art as there should be. And it's not easy to supress the creativity, isn't it? Because, when you eventually have time, it suddenly is all gone...or there's so many ideas that you can't even finish one satisfyingly =/

Anyway. I think that one should not put too much pressure on his own shoulders...try to do your best and not overdo it. I know how hard that can be. But still, I think it's an important lesson to learn that sometimes one needs to let go.
There may be people who can give everything all the time but I'm not sure if they are not burning themselves out. I'm also not sure if that is the right thing to do, if there actually is something like the right thing.
So, let me wish you all the best, for every minor and major problem you have (although I hope they're not too major...)

Oh, may I ask which program are you studying? Is university hard? Is there a great big leap between high school and university? Pardon all the questions, but I am frightened of what next year will bring. I am going to do a major in Biology and minor in Chemistry (well, that's what I'm planning for now) and I heard marks dop drastically in first year university! (The Freshman Fifteen: 15% mark drop and 15 pound addition to the waist line, 'cause of all the stress ) I'm sure it's not as dramatic. Let me rephrase that: I sincerely hope it is not like that in reality. Haha. Still very afraid though.

So often nowadays we're forced to push ourselves to our limits, starting at an earlier age with every generation, and no matter how hard you try, there's always someone better out there, with less amount of effort applied. That always pushed me to work harder. So much so that in the past years I always feel guilty when i am not working. You get a vacation after a grueling period of studies and extracurricular activities, and then all of a sudden, you cannot even relax. You NEED to work. I bet many peopel feel that way. So that prevents me from taking the time off for myself. Which leads to such instances as getting a very bad cold four times in the past 3 months! (I usually get sick only twice a year)........... Gaah, very hard to learn to just stop and smell the flowers in our new age that moves at supersonic speed, making everything faster just to create more time and then spend it on procrastination.

Anyway, sorry for the rant, it must be the cold talking.
Thank you so much for the encouragement, it's actually greatly appreciated, I assure you, even if we're strangers and communicate through an online resource.

--
When you cry, I cry. When you laugh, I laugh. When you fall off a bridge, I laugh harder.

La mai mult si la mai mare

Actually I'm not sure how Universities work in other countries, or at least in countries not close to Austria. But nevertheless...(again, I like to talk about such stuff...after all, I love studying...).

I'm studying maths (I'd say I'm doing a major, or a Master's degree...although I'd like to go for a PhD afterwards) and yes to all the other questions: University is a lot of work, it is very hard and there is indeed a huge leap between (High) school and University. Here, we have a "drop out rate" of about 75% (which means, 75% of the people starting maths don't ever finish their studies...most of them stop after the first few weeks already, though), my marks did not go down by that much, but the time necessary to keep them at that level increased definitely (my weight not, though, I still keep on doing sports ;D ).

Wow. Now you're surely scared. Now let ME rephrase that:
That sounds very intimidating and stuff, but it is not that dramatic. First, I can only speak about maths, which is among the hardest studies here (again, that sounds like I'm boasting...I'm not, though, it is supported by observations of friends and myself, and I state it as a mere "fact"). Second, it is not like I do maths all day and night. It sure is time consuming, but I'm someone who is a hard worker and who actually likes most of the stuff he's learning (this is important!). Also, I have certain limits, that I don't cross (or rarely have to)...work is work, but life is life, and the latter is necessary. I'm not among the best, I'm among the better ones here and that MUST be enough. Anything else would be crazy for me (although I admit, I'd love to be the best...but you've said it yourself, there's always someone who's better than you...when you accept that and keep on going, not out of desperation, but out of fascination and try to learn from the better ones, then I can live with that).
Again, I know these bad feelings when I'm not working, when I know I should be doing something different...and believe me, I AM among the people who can work a lot, but still...you describe the consequences of being out of balance quite well. I'm not sure if it is worth it. Maybe it is necessary today, but I can't get myself to believe that. And if it is so, I can't accept it. Whatever.


...our knowledge is said to increase exponentially. Is there going to be a Singularity (a kind of...extreme level of technology, growing faster than ever before)? Well, it seems so. Not sure we're ready for that yet. Or actually: I'm sure we're not.