Making exscuses

What do you do when a series of unfortunate major life events throws you off your stride? What if you asked for a bit of extra time on an assignment once or twice because you simply didn’t pay attention enough? (Or at least, that’s how it feels even if you had a good reason.) What if you feel like all your “get outta class free cards” are used up? And then something serious happens? Well, that’s something like what happened to me. I fell a bit behind in one class while trying to keep up in the others. And I tried to keep up. But here’s the thing: When something big happens, even though the time might have been there, sometimes, you just can’t do it. But what then? Don’t make my mistake; I tried to keep up and pretend like nothing happened. Well, not quite, but I tried to put of dealing with the situation at hand to try to keep up on school. That, I think, might have been a mistake. I should have asked ahead of time for some extra breathing space assignment-wise… before the night before a test. Before a paper was due. But I didn’t… in the end, I had to choose between a paper and a test… I took the one I was most likely to get done in time… and, as a result, I may have a lower grade. So what’s the point? The point is, if you really do have something huge and horrible happen, say, like, in my case, my grandma’s death… just five months after her husband, my grandpa, died… And for me, that meant staying with family friends from church for a week. Ask if you can take some extra time if you need it right away. Don’t try to tough it out and get it all done. Chances are you won’t, and if you do, it won’t be as good as it should be. So take my advice: Ask early. Even if it’s a no, it can’t hurt. Just something to think upon…