Ways I have been "flexible" in the past week:

• finding time to study for a chemistry exam, statistics exam, and write a full research paper
• waking up early to finish other assignments such as this one
• going to sleep later than usual to cram all of the above in
• making time for family members that are visiting me at school
• trying to watch the season finale of The Bachelor
• going to the gym
• eating healthy
• not getting sick
• not stressing out (as stressful as all this sounds)

Being flexible to me means not sticking to my original plan. There are times that I schedule what I'm doing to the minute. With that being said, I sometimes struggle with managing my time and getting everything done. I do stress out and lose sleep. College is the time to learn how to be flexible.

In Alan S. Pearlman's "Adapting", he comes to a realization that humans adapt to their environment just as animals are known to do. He uses examples such as how human beings can travel to places that are hot and cold or how we can adapt to the financial economy. To summarize his claim, Pearlman says, "Adapting to one's surroundings is a necessary part of life." This quote is trivial because of his emphasis on adaptation as a necessity. Adapting and flexibility go hand in hand. Being able to be flexible requires being able to adapt to whatever is thrown at you next.

A (slightly odd) children's story titled My Little World Has Broken, tells the tale about a spring that lived inside of a pen until it was flushed down a drain and sent to a river. When he reaches the outside, he helps a flower survive by being its support (Sacristàn). Although this story is on the weirder side, it complements the discussion about adapting and flexibility. Without being flexible, the spring would not have been able to find a new life outside its pen.

Works Cited

Pearlman, Alan S. "Adapting", Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography, Volume 22, Issue 9, September 2009, pp 1080–1081 http://www.sciencedirect.com.libproxy.clemson.edu/science/article/pii/S0894731709007202. Accessed 14 March 2017.

Sacristàn, Pedro Pablo. "My Little World Has Broken", Bedtime Stories, https://freestoriesforkids.com/children/stories-and-tales/my-little-world-has-broken. Accessed 14 March 2017.