Missing Deadlines ≠ End of the World

I just missed a deadline. Mom and dad, if you're reading this, I'm sorry 🙁

As with all other deadlines - be it academic or not - missing a due date leaves me feeling angsty and as though I'm being flushed down the toilet. Do you ever get that feeling when you're studying or working on a problem set last minute that "Wow, this stuff is actual manageable, if only I had started earlier to have more time to do it and do it well"? Like Rachel, my mind went into overdrive when I realized I had missed the due date.

Do I drop the course and take it next year? But that would push back all my courses - I can't. Maybe enough people missed the deadline too!! *Googles how to start a petition* I didn't do too bad on the midterms... but will I have to get 100 on the final? Can I get perfect on the final? Oh gosh. Wait, no. Let me calculate how much I need for a B in the course. Before punching those numbers into my calculator and hyperventilating, I took a step back to examine my situation.

1. B R E A T H E 

What's done is done. I can only learn to double and triple check the due dates I put in my calendar. I might also set more reminders to keep me on my toes, especially during midterm season. 2) Check how much it was worth In hindsight, it was an online in-text question module; not a massive final paper worth 20% of my grade. Online in-text questions are worth 5% of my overall grade, which means each module works out to be about half a percent or maybe even less. Whew! 3) Email the professor I usually complete these well in advance but I unfortunately left this til the last minute. So I emailed my professor explaining myself. There's probably not much he can do and he technically doesn't have to make any leeway for me either but I'm probably not the first student in all his year's of teaching that has reached out to try to work out an alternative. Fingers crossed! 4) Do it anyway I was so pumped to finally sit down and do my module on a Sunday morning. I had a cup of tea, ready to crunch some numbers... only to open the module and see that I couldn't submit answers anymore.

As you can imagine, my motivation to complete the online module went from 100 to 0, real quick. At the end of the day, the materials covered in the module will aid my understanding of the subject and will ultimately be on tests and the final. Even though the element of stress that comes with meeting a deadline is gone and my answers won't count for marks, I will still complete the module for my own good. So I'm going to end this post and go do it now!