Thursday, June 3, 2010

Girls were made for dresses, not for doing things again and again.

Yet why do I find myself doing all the same rubbish I did last year?? That's why I have decided there is no point, even during the Leaving Cert this year that I shall cease going out or drinking.

For those that are not familiar, new year of 2009, my resolution was to quit drinking until the Leaving Cert over. Technically, many could argue I didn't keep it since I had to do the Leaving Cert again and even a year after I 'finished' it, I'm still tied up in its tight clench. However, I kept my resolution and not once touched a single drop of C2H5OH until June 16th, 2009, the day I finished my Spanish(my final) exam. This year however, I made no such promise and I have continued drinking the entire year. The exams start in less that a week and I'm still not quitting, in fact, I plan on hitting the town for a few drinks this Friday night. I'm confident pretty much the rest of the year have finished up until June 17th/21st/22nd/24th/25th/whatever date they finish, with the booze, hoping it will somehow make a dramatic difference to their results in August, even though they have been drinking all year long. Personally, I really can't say if quitting the drink made a huge difference to my results last year. I think without alcohol, I had no way of clearing my mind of all the stress the Leaving Cert entailed. It sounds like I'm referring to alcohol as a solver to problems, which is what alcoholics tend to do and it is referred to as in fact the cause of the problems, however, I think I hold a valid argument in what I am saying. During the Leaving Cert, you feel your life is completely controlled by everything to do with the Leaving Cert, the main reason being that you can't get it out of your head. This passed year, I haven't been able to trace a day where the Leaving Cert did not come to mind in some frustrating manner. Now fellow Leaving Certs reading this, think back to any night you have been out on the town drinking and how often the Leaving Cert seemed to come to mind. Sure some of us mention it when we're drunk, but most of us completely forget about it and just have a good time. Thinking of the Leaving Cert seems to have a knock on effect that stops one enjoying themselves. Therefor, the alcohol allows the Leaving Certs to have a good time and thus revealing some of the stress these lousy exams entail. Overload of stress causes a mental blocks and mental blocks mean bad grades. And for those that could argue that you're killing all the brain cells with all the essential information for the Leaving Cert, NEWSFLASH, alcohol doesn't kill brain cells. It has been proven, you can do a bit of Googling if you don't believe me. This is the reason I am going out before and during the exams. I have found that all my friends doing the Leaving Cert, even those that are usually relaxed about everything, are going into overdrive when it comes to stress. They will do themselves more harm than good by thinking too much about how it can go wrong, what they don't know and that they're not good enough for the course they want to do. Most have decided they have given up on fun until the exams are over and from here on in(and this has been the last week or two as well) it's study all the way. They haven't allowed any me time for themselves, any time to completely clear their mind of all the horrible exams that lie ahead(and I wont lie, they are horrible). All the worry just leads to more worry about if they're worrying right which leads to more worry about the Leaving Cert which puts them in a vicious circle where they are only getting themselves worked up about things that they have no control over. I have found, in comparison to my fellow Leaving Certs, that I am not stressing at all, I feel more relaxed about these exams than ever, in fact, from this moment right here, I am looking forward to them.

This is the reason I have not quit drinking, I feel when you enjoy what you do, you're better at it. If I'm stopping myself getting worked up and over stressed about these exams then I will screw up. I'm not going to take time out of study to go out, but I'm going to have a hell of a good time on a night out this Friday, I couldn't care less how close the exams are. It's not going to make the make or break difference in the exams, I can just sense it wont.