It’s been less than a week since the big day and I already feel like a new person. Some interesting things I’ve noticed:
I have so much free time now. During my first weekend off, I almost didn’t know what to do. I ended up going to the movies and having dinner with my friends. No more blowing off my social life to study for a test.
I still have raccoon eyes. I’m definitely sleeping better, but there’s still some lingering insomnia. I don’t know why, but for some reason, at 1 am in the morning, I still feel the need to do “something” before I go to bed. Maybe it’s the upcoming essays?
I need to lose weight. During the course of my GMAT studies, I gained about 10 pounds over three months. Now I don’t have the GMAT as an excuse to unhealthy eating. I’m going to try and lose the weight and them some before interviews next year. It’s an arbitrary goal, as they technically don’t weigh physical fitness into your candidacy, but a good one nonetheless.
I’m spending a lot more money. If you follow some of the personal finance posts in this blog, you’d know that I’m a pretty frugal guy. But the cheapskate in me must’ve died after the test.   $18 for lunch? Why not? $70 massage? Sure. It’s definitely not a good sign, as I must already be banking on my MBA degree 3 years out. Hopefully I’ll come back to my senses in a few weeks.
My apartment is a mess. On the weekened I spent about an hour organizing all my GMAT material, between stuff I plan to throw away and stuff I might be able to sell. I also started cleaning out my refridgerator and found some pretty disgusting things. It’s amazing how much of a slob you can become when your mind is focused on just one thing.
Work is a lot easier. Nothing’s really changed at work; I just have a much more positive outlook now. It’s amazing how one small factor can permeate through the rest of your life. It doesn’t matter whether I get the visibility I want or interesting projects to work on; I know I’m destined to go back to school.
I know this all just represents the calm before the storm because I definitely have a huge workload in front of me. But for now I’m going to enjoy my time off. With that I say farewell to my GMAT stress; I’m sure my upcoming essay-writing stress will gladly fill the void.
Hope to get where you are right now, in the next week!
Good luck on the essays.
Thanks for all your supportive comments Curious. Just make sure to push hard as the last week will be rough. Feel free to message me if you have any specific questions.