This has been such a hard year–personally, nationally, and globally. I am excited to say goodbye to 2016 and ring in 2017! While the future is uncertain, having a positive outlook and a curiosity of the unknown, rather than fear, I know there will be some element of joy. During these past few weeks I have been finishing up the last of my undergraduate courses, which is absolutely horrifying to me! I vividly remember my first set of finals, and now I am at the end.

I will still be in school next semester, but I will not be enrolled in any classes and instead will focus on my honors thesis. This means a great deal of change for me, which I find both exciting and terrifying. I will have a great deal of flexibility  and will need to construct my own schedule–a blessing  and a curse. I love having a degree of structure, but I will be grateful to avoid rush hour traffic and get home before 9pm on week nights!

Given the chaos of the past weeks, I have not posted as much as I like, but I plan to make up for it during the holiday break! I will be playing in the kitchen, trying new products, and truly relaxing a bit.

For those of you with flexible schedules, how do you organize your day? What are your favorite ways to stay focused?