week[0] - The Best Indices Start at Zero

I will not hide the fact that I'm feeling nervous. I've done about a hundred pages of information-packed readings for my first week of class meetings, and extrapolating from the first few posts I'll probably be reading about another 1,400 before the semester is done. However, I am trying to remind myself of a few things:

• I made it this far. My psychology classes in undergrad had me reading papers at a pretty high rate, especially Social Psych & Moral Psych (shout-out to Professor Goodwin for the most thorough experience in academic reading I could have asked for). We didn't read this much, but I have a foundation to build on -- this isn't my first rodeo, I just need to remember old reading/note-taking skills and refine them for higher volume and a new field.

• It's worth it. I've already noticed that I'm learning a lot from the readings, and they're helping me make sense of my own experience as a math educator & researcher as I read them (partly because my professors have clearly chosen very carefully-picked articles and chapters). The time put into reading these is significant, but so is the knowledge gained; I have no reason to shirk work or deprioritize this.

• I have the time for this. I'm not juggling 90 students, classroom behavioral expectations & discipline consequences, administrative emails, coaching, and overseeing clubs this year. I hope to have a lot on my plate between research and classes, but that's the primary focus of my time: the demands of the program, while intense, are all I have to rise outside of my basic survival needs.

• I have people to support me. This is making me perhaps the most assured that I can be successful. From my lovely, hardworking, fiancee who always has my back, to my parents and brother who have supported & loved me all my life, to my best man, my groomsmen, my STEP department colleagues and all my other friends who are there for me all the time in various ways, big and small, I know that there are people I can talk to, lean on, and laugh with as I go through this experience. I don't know that I could do this alone; thankfully, I don't have to.