Midterms are coming up, and I'm starting to feel the pressure bearing down from school, my field placement, and especially work.

For school I have the obvious pressures of reading and studying for midterms and/or writing papers. So far this hasn't been too bad. For my internship I actually feel a lot of pressure to find clients. UMD requires that I see at minimum 3 clients, and I lead some type of group. Right now I am only seeing 1 client, so I feel the pressure of advertising my services within the field placement...which isn't necessarily bad. Since my future aspiration is to have my own private practice, I may have to get used to advertising for clients. However, part of me expected my field placement to find those clients for me, so this is an extra pressure I didn't plan on. To top that off, I'm struggling with the client I do have because he has so many presenting issues I'd like to address, but it's still early on in our relationship and I don't want to ruin my rapport with him by bringing those issues up. It's frustrating!

For my job as a ballroom dance teacher I'm still in the training phase so it's kind of like I'm enrolled in 2 totally different graduate programs - social work and ballroom. When I go to train for work I take notes, and I have to memorize hundreds of dancing patterns, and I have to memorize our formula on how to sell lessons. It's ALOT to learn, I don't know half of what I should, and the day I supposedly know everything and become a full fledged teacher coincides exactly with my midterms so....goodbye social life! Who knew dancing could be like work?

My current plan is to see how things pan out this semester... If I feel totally overwhelmed at the end of the semester, I'm going to take fewer classes in the Spring, and then take 1 or 2 classes during the summer at the shady grove campus while I work. I figure spreading out the academic load into the summer might help my chances at overall success?...I hope.

Whoa, another big pressure - money! I paid for the whole first semester out of pocket from when I worked in DC for a year. I've been trying like crazy to get some scholarships for next semester because my savings account is not what it used to be, but so far it seems that all the money is reserved for advanced standing (second year) students. I've never taken out a loan before, and I really don't want to start now. I know I still have a little time left to find some money, so here's hoping!