Hardest personal lesson learned?

[evanperryg]

Don't bite off more than you can chew. After last year, we lost most of our CAD team. So, while retaining my roles with strategy and electrical, I took on the task of CADing much of the robot this year. It got done, but there were weeks where I would get ~20 hours of sleep, total. For me, FRC has always been a lot of fun, from start to finish. It has always made me happy, but it didn't this year, at least until I had a couple weeks away from it all, to sleep and to focus on other things. FIRST is inspiring. Sometimes, so inspiring that it sucks you in. The above story happened in parallel with having problems with my relationships, friends, and family. I was so buried in my work that I rarely talked to my friends or anyone else, and it took a toll on me and those around me. Much like many other people on CD, I love what I do. I love FRC, but, just like anyone else, I need people in my life in order to function. This is for any incoming FRC student- everyone says that academics comes first, but that's not the only thing. You come first. Know when you need to take a step back from it all, for your own health and happiness.

Side note: I also learned, don't cantilever things. Our robot was very saggy this year. If you ever saw us doing something to our shooter that looked like robot chiropractics, now you know why.