Perspective. . .nice concept, hard to accomplish

Is the glass half full or half empty? Can it be filled to the top? Did someone drop a straw in it and suck it dry? Can I freeze the glass and its contents so that it can't go anywhere? Alright, who knocked the glass over? As I get older, I find that perspective is one of the most important aspects of life. Yet, it is also one of the hardest things to obtain and maintain. For me, it has been my struggle, especially lately. . .especially when I could be sitting on the beach in San Diego instead of in grad school. Wait...no. See what I mean? I lost perspective for a second. I lost sight of what I'm trying to accomplish and I focused on what I want right now. This has been my experience in graduate school so far. I'm only 8 months into a 36 month program. . .and each day it seems like I'm further away from it being over. I'm trying to think of an analogy for grad school. I think it's probably like a gorilla at the zoo that has been deemed dangerous, kept in the cage inside, not safe enough to be let out for the world to see, but not dangerous enough to be disposed of. . .yet. That's only one wrong move away though. Sitting in the middle of the cage, I see two different scenarios. On one side of me is the barred door that leads to the outside, where I want to be. On the other side is another set of bars, with zoo-keepers standing there with their arms crossed, holding a tranquilizer and a shotgun, just waiting for me to mess up. The consequence of such actions is obvious. So I continue to sit here, doing what they tell me to do, hoping I do it right so I don't get shot. Yes I realize that by giving this example my brother will have a field day with me comparing myself to a monkey in a cage. Oh well. That's the view of grad school without perspective. With perspective it looks like climbing a mountain with my goal of the career of my dreams at the top. Sometimes I scale parts of the mountain quite easily. Sometimes I lose grip and pull a mission impossible move, hanging by one hand. Sometimes I get over one tough stretch, thinking the top of the hill is just out of sight, but when I get there I find that the top is still much further away than I thought. But I keep pushing on, hoping that my rope and anchors hold, and my strength doesn't give out too early. The thought of reaching the top of the mountain is amazing. That keeps me going. It's just about all that keeps me going.