Twentieth Entry (November 12th, 2021)

     Today was one of the busiest days I had throughout the semester, as I had a housing tour to give during preview day, a retreat to attend for my second job at the Inclusive Excellence, Education, and Development Hub, and a meeting to facilitate for Pre-Health Hub. Despite the busy day I had, I was able to keep calm throughout it, and was even able to lessen my anxiety about giving the housing tour as I had completed some deep breathing before it started. I have really struggled with public speaking in the past, and although I am much more willing and able to do it now, I also have been extremely anxious before doing public speaking which causes me to experience physical symptoms such as rapid heartbeat, difficulty breathing, nausea, and shaking, but since I was able to properly calm myself down with deep breathing, I did not experience any of these physical symptoms and was able to deliver all I had to say in a manner in which everyone could understand. Later in the day after I was done with all of the tasks I needed to complete, I was exhausted and hesitant to engage in the deep breathing because I wanted to continue mindlessly watching TV, but I had did it anyway, which I was proud of. The exercise was a bit difficult at first because I was having trouble focusing due to wanting to do something else at the time, but I eventually was able to focus and felt my muscles relax and focused on clearing my mind from any thoughts I had throughout the day. After the exercise I was relaxed and went to sleep shortly afterwards, which I am thankful for because I had to get up very early in the morning the next day.

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