In today’s installment of Small Victories, note-taking ninja Maud Rozee congratulates you on making it to class.  Drawing master Alexander Pines provides you the award.

You win.

This morning you lay in your bed thinking: What would happen if I just didn’t go to class? Absolutely nothing. The siren song of skipping tempted you to shirk all engagement with the outside world and nestle deeper in your blanket cocoon. It would be blissfully easy to just put off leaving minute by minute–better to make a clean skip than to scramble in late, right? And yet, as you searched your feelings, you knew this was wrong. You closed your eyes, and summoned the strength of your ancestors. You visualized yourself as a single-minded scholar. You promised to buy yourself a mocha frap afterwards. With your heart steeled against inertia, you swung your feet out of bed, showered, got dressed. As you left, your hand hesitated on the door knob for a moment. Then you burst out of your room like an intellectual butterfly erupting from its chrysalis.

Notebooks rustle. Students chatter.You take out your favorite pen, Old Reliable, and prepare to be educated. For the next hour and fifteen minutes, you have nary a care in the world beyond listening to your professor’s soothing voice. And avoiding Facebook. And keeping your eyes open. Still, you are absurdly proud of yourself. Why don’t you do this all the time? Congratulations, student. Today, you made it to class.