I've learned a very valuable lesson in terms of time management, deadlines and real life that I wanted to reflect on and share on my blog...
Since Wednesday my Guide Dog has been suffering with Conjunctivitis (an infection in her eyes causing constant watering, inflammation and discharge) meaning that I was absent on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday while I went back home to Manchester to take Tami to the vets as soon as possible for treatment. Tami being poorly made me feel like I was in a very vulnerable position. I couldn't go to uni because Tami is my mobility aid, my confidence booster to get out there and live in a sighted world, my eyes and my best (and only) friend. She means the absolute world to me and for her to be under the weather meant that I, in turn, shared her pain and helplessness. I was as I was before I was matched and trained with her; highly dependent, alone and afraid. This turn of events really highlighted how important Tami really is and the change she has instilled in me and my life. I wouldn't even be here at university without her as I was previously unable to travel on my own, heck, even go out on my own at all as I was too self-conscious about using my long cane in public. I am now strongly independent, confident and on the path of following my dreams - and it's all thanks to the love, comfort and loyalty that Tami gives me daily.
In my haste of contacting my mum, arranging an appointment on the afternoon I discovered her eye infection, weighing out Tami's food for the next 3 mornings and evenings to package up and label (Guide Dogs have a very strict diet so as not to gain weight while they are a working dog), getting ready and grabbing my laptop - I forgot my sketchbooks, materials and poster roughs for Monday's deadline. I feel this was justified under the circumstances, but I quickly noticed my error when I arrived home. As such, I was only able to work on and complete blog posts while I was staying at home and looking after Tami; giving her eyedrops twice a day and mashing antibiotics into her food. I blogged 4 posts in total, some of which were rather lengthy, so I did feel accomplished to a certain extent - but in the back of my mind I knew I needed to complete my sketchbook development and get started on the actual A2 poster.
Upon arriving back into Leeds on Saturday afternoon, I visited the college library to purchase my poster paper (which I was planning to do on the Wednesday after my COP lecture) and collect my work. I spent Saturday night and most of Sunday working on finishing my research and development and the poster itself - but time ran out and I only had a half-finished poster to present on Monday morning. Even though I really tried my hardest to complete my work, I still felt disappointed that I couldn't share my work with my tutors and my peers and felt like I had let myself down. Looking back now with more clarity, these events couldn't have been foreseen or predicted - so I quickly stopped blaming myself, instead channeling my energy into the second brief of the module.
I am very impressed with how quickly I turned things around though! Yesterday evening I worked really hard on my typology poster and finally have it at a stage that I am much happier with. Upon reflection, real life unfortunately can get in the way and no amount of preparation can have me ready for it - but working hard to make up for lost time, really focusing, concentrating and applying time management were of huge benefit to complete a project and improve my sense of wellbeing.
Tami is now much better, meaning that I feel much happier and comfortable to be back at uni, so now it's onwards and upwards!
In my haste of contacting my mum, arranging an appointment on the afternoon I discovered her eye infection, weighing out Tami's food for the next 3 mornings and evenings to package up and label (Guide Dogs have a very strict diet so as not to gain weight while they are a working dog), getting ready and grabbing my laptop - I forgot my sketchbooks, materials and poster roughs for Monday's deadline. I feel this was justified under the circumstances, but I quickly noticed my error when I arrived home. As such, I was only able to work on and complete blog posts while I was staying at home and looking after Tami; giving her eyedrops twice a day and mashing antibiotics into her food. I blogged 4 posts in total, some of which were rather lengthy, so I did feel accomplished to a certain extent - but in the back of my mind I knew I needed to complete my sketchbook development and get started on the actual A2 poster.
Upon arriving back into Leeds on Saturday afternoon, I visited the college library to purchase my poster paper (which I was planning to do on the Wednesday after my COP lecture) and collect my work. I spent Saturday night and most of Sunday working on finishing my research and development and the poster itself - but time ran out and I only had a half-finished poster to present on Monday morning. Even though I really tried my hardest to complete my work, I still felt disappointed that I couldn't share my work with my tutors and my peers and felt like I had let myself down. Looking back now with more clarity, these events couldn't have been foreseen or predicted - so I quickly stopped blaming myself, instead channeling my energy into the second brief of the module.
I am very impressed with how quickly I turned things around though! Yesterday evening I worked really hard on my typology poster and finally have it at a stage that I am much happier with. Upon reflection, real life unfortunately can get in the way and no amount of preparation can have me ready for it - but working hard to make up for lost time, really focusing, concentrating and applying time management were of huge benefit to complete a project and improve my sense of wellbeing.
Tami is now much better, meaning that I feel much happier and comfortable to be back at uni, so now it's onwards and upwards!
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