Day 10 – The Mental Gymnastics of Attending 8 AM Lectures

There’s a special kind of pain reserved for 8 AM lectures.

The alarm goes off at 6:45. I open one eye, let out a string of curses, and immediately start negotiating with myself:

“If I get ready in 10 minutes, skip breakfast, and take 15 minutes to walk to college... I can sleep till 7:20. That’s practical, right? Survival over thriving... right?”

Spoiler: it’s not.

The actual process of getting up is a drama in five acts:

1. Denial – wondering if attendance is really worth being this sleep-deprived.

2. Bargaining – promising myself I’ll sleep early tonight (a lie).

3. Existential ceiling-staring – contemplating my life choices.

4. Panic – because now I actually might not make it.

5. Resignation – dragging myself up like a zombie auditioning for med school.

I somehow make it to class looking like a homeless person cosplaying a medical student. And guess what? The professor shows up 30 minutes late.

Every. Single. Time.

If I’m even 5 minutes late, they arrive early. But when I’m actually on time? They stroll in half an hour later or cancel the class altogether. Make it make sense.

Anyway, class begins. The professor talks. My brain starts buffering.

Sometimes I genuinely wonder if I have a functioning brain or just empty space with Wi-Fi problems.

Everyone else is nodding like they get it.

I’m sitting there trying to figure out how I even got here.

Then there's that one overachiever who answers every question like it’s a quiz show. I respect them. I fear them. Honestly, are they even real?

Meanwhile, I’m scribbling notes I’ll never understand later. My handwriting at 8 AM? Pure hieroglyphics. Future me is in for a treat.

But here’s the thing: we still show up.

Sleep-deprived, mentally lagging, caffeinated beyond reason—but we show up. And that counts.

Because sometimes, surviving is enough.

You don’t have to thrive at 8 AM.

You just have to arrive.

See you tomorrow—hopefully more awake.