{"id":24254,"date":"2016-12-14T10:08:11","date_gmt":"2016-12-14T15:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/?p=21950"},"modified":"2026-03-26T09:59:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T13:59:28","slug":"writers-block-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/2016\/writers-block-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Paige's Blog – Writer's Block"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Paige's Blog – Writer's Block\n <\/h1>\n \n \n <\/header>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

This blog has been the most difficult to write so far, and for a simple reason: I\u2019m not inspired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What to talk about in December? Christmas, obviously; exams and final papers, if I want to hit home the bucketloads of stress which right now are pouring down on all of our heads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday I handed in my last essay, and then I went Christmas shopping. It was a lovely feeling because I wasn\u2019t wearing a backpack for the first time in a very, very long time. Last night I slept<\/em>, without the dread of a due date lingering on the backs of my eyelids. But in spite of all that, I haven\u2019t hit the reset button. I\u2019m not magically stress-free and energized. No, I am still exhausted, and I still have writer\u2019s block. Can you tell? Do my sentences feel a little sloth-like? They do to me.<\/p>\n\n\n

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But, Paige. You\u2019re in English (sort of)! Didn\u2019t you come to university to write papers<\/em>?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This is the reality of this time of year. Maybe once I\u2019m no longer a student, I\u2019ll still be suffering burnout, but instead because I\u2019ll have time to do all the holiday activities and I\u2019ll drive my body to the breaking point with baking, shopping, visiting friends, planning gifts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t make that sound bad. It sounds so much better than writing papers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, Paige. You\u2019re in English (sort of)! Didn\u2019t you come to university to write papers<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes. Yes, I did. And I don\u2019t know what I was thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this blog seems like a downer, you should see my first draft. It drips with bitterness. It seems that being uninspired also makes it difficult to be inspiring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I should be inspiring, because I know that around the corner from now, all the emotional and mental drainage of these two weeks will be a distant memory. I go through this every year<\/em>. Shouldn\u2019t I be treasuring this, my last December as a Carleton undergrad? Shouldn\u2019t I be waxing nostalgic about the last sleepless nights and the curative red Starbucks cup?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t. This is the part of university that I will not miss, but it\u2019s also (I suggest) one of the more universal experiences. Every time I think I\u2019ve hit my limit, I see the circles under someone else\u2019s eyes and know that I\u2019m not alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you have an existential crisis if everyone else is, too? Asking for a friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy Holidays! I\u2019ll see you on the other side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This blog has been the most difficult to write so far, and for a simple reason: I\u2019m not inspired. What to talk about in December? Christmas, obviously; exams and final papers, if I want to hit home the bucketloads of stress which right now are pouring down on all of our heads. Yesterday I handed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[294,25,849],"tags":[142],"class_list":["post-24254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-paiges-blog","category-student-blogs","category-student-voices","tag-student-bloggers"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24254"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53669,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24254\/revisions\/53669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}