obsessed!
I’m finally free! Somewhat.
I have worked through around ~900 pages of data protection law scripts, probably a 100 additional pages researching things and reading some sources, writing notes and doing a few quizzes and exercises - since April 1. I have now finished the last page. The certification intends 3 semesters with 1 module each, I’ve now completed all three in the span of a month.
Admittedly, it was quite unhealthy at times. No one forced me to do this and I still have weeks time to do it all, and if I had wanted to do it like it was intended, I would’ve had over a year to do it all.
But I was obsessed and still am; I tend to do that for stuff I am passionate about. I remember when I was teaching myself 3D Modeling in my early 20s and I’d stay up until 4am creating models and watching tutorials and researching stuff, sleeping for 4 hours, waking up at 8am to walk the dog, then sleeping again until around noon, then either going to my parttime student job back then or the classes I enrolled in back when I studied social sciences, then returning home, walking the dog again, working on 3D modeling, walking the dog once again, and then working through the night. Repeat. The same actually happened when I taught myself HTML and CSS a few years ago. I’m a repeat offender, I guess.
Now for most of April, all I did was study, go to the gym, work, eat and sleep. It took away from my sleep recently… often I was only in bed past 11pm despite needing to get up at 5am for my office days. I had some headaches and sensations that worried me, so I started forcing myself to do other things for a change the last week, like reading some of the books I ordered or playing games. I felt everything was off-balance and becoming destructive… but nothing really hit as much as the study material for my brain, at least. While doing anything else, I was always just aware at the back of my head that I could learn more right now. It was like being full but knowing your favorite food is in the fridge. Or rather, being full of your favorite food but continuing the binge anyway.
So even when my eyes were tired, my brain was fried and feeling full and I was exhausted or craving some fun, I went back to my study scripts anyway. I often got up intending to take a break, just to immediately get back to it. Again and again. I’d say “I’ll read to page 70” and at 70, I’d say “Just a handful more, why not” over and over until I really couldn’t anymore. Then I’d go to bed. And when I got up it’d greet me again on my laptop as I always left it open. I also met with my mentor (DPO) at work to have an hour long meeting about some questions I had, and I talked to three other students about data protection law stuff. I attended a seminar and two other study meetings about it. One time, I even discussed law typing furiously on my phone while on the treadmill at the gym. It’s honestly crazy.
First exam is 19th May. Until then, I have some law literature I wanna read that isn’t technically part of the curriculum, and I want a separate version of my current notes that’s structured differently, so I’ll have to go on and create that. There are also some position papers of some committees, the EDPS and more I plan to read, and some blog posts swirling in my head…
I’m trying to pace myself so I don’t burn out on the whole thing, but I’ve been doing a bad job over all. Well, I’ve read two books (unfinished) last week and played “Lost but Found” and the new Monster Prom 4: Monster Con, so at least I did that. And I am forced to take a break the coming days because I’m getting married!
I saw a beautiful sunrise this morning, and a little bit of fog rising up from the earth, and I felt super tired with a mild headache (5:50am, 5 hours of sleep) but the visuals made me feel like it was all worth it, for now, and there’s great things in store for me. I would encourage anyone else to be more normal about the things they love than I am, though.
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Published 28 Apr, 2025