As a person who gets an average of 3.5 hours of sleep per night, who takes on too many responsibilities at once, and who attends the university ranked #1 in stressed out students, I’m pretty confident that I know the definition of “overworking”. But, to be honest, I did not realize I was overworking until after multiple comments from my girlfriend last week about how I looked like Barack Obama after his 8 years of presidency. So, in light of my girlfriend’s comments, I reflected on my workload and decided to share the feelings that every stressed out person knows all too well (or at least I know too well).
1. Caffeine is Love. Caffeine is Life.
Basically anything that has caffeine (Frappuccinos, Mountain Dew Kickstarters, Monsters, caffeine pills, mom’s freshly brewed tea) becomes your best friend. Tired from pulling two back-to-back all-nighters to do homework? Drink an energy drink and you’ll be right as rain! Have to stay up to finish planning a huge rager for your fraternity? Pop a caffeine pill, and you’ll be revved up in no time! But you better watch that intake though. The “healthy” limit for an average young adult should be about 400mg of caffeine per day. If you are going over that limit every day or find your trashcan mostly filled with Rockstar cans (aka me) and empty caffeine pill bottles (not me...yet *cue suspenseful music*) then maybe you and caffeine need some space.
2.“Sit-down” meals? What are those?
What I mean by “sit-down” meals? Let’s say you want to cook and eat stir-fry in your apartment or go out and get curry with your friends. Those are “sit-down” meals. Those take time. Overworking means devoting a lot of time to work. Devoting a lot of time to work means little time for anything else. “Sit-down” meals are included in that “anything else”. So unless you want to get used to eating only Subway sandwiches and protein bars every day, you should lay off the work sauce and sprinkle on a little R&R salt.
3. Your friends think you have gone M.I.A.
M.I.A. is a military term that stands for “Missing In Action” aka no one knows where the fuck you are. They have searched low and high for you, constantly texting you to get wasted at fraternity houses or calling you to participate in the next protest. Little do they know that you have ventured into the deep depths of gloomy libraries, searching for that chest full of A’s, but getting caught by the traps of Netflix (WestWorld anyone?) and Facebook memes (shout out to UC Berkeley Memes for Edgy Teens). Why do you partake in this perilous treasure hunt in the first place? Can you guess? If you can’t then maybe that’s another sign that you need to get out more with your friends and not your books.
4. Bed is EVERYWHERE.
When I mean “everywhere” is a bed, I mean EVERYWHERE. The chair I’m assuming you’re sitting in? Your mattress. The sweater weather clothes you are wearing? Your blanket. The guy that is sitting next to you actually studying? Your pillow (no really, his shoulder is REAL comfy). I can’t tell you the numerous times I have passed out on the desks of Main Stacks and on the cramped seats in Pimental, dreaming somewhat peacefully away while my snoring echoes through the halls and through people’s headphones. Overworking yourself can get a lot of your work done but it exhausts the hell out of you. Sooner or later, that guy’s shoulder will start looking more and more like an actual pillow. Though that could be a possible symptom of dementia…with that I recommend you get immediate medical attention.
5. Looking older than you actually are, has never been easier.
So far, the signs of overworking consist of excessive ingestions of drugs, quick pre-made meals, frequent disappearances, and falling asleep literally everywhere. Basically the characteristics of a stereotypical aged retiree. What could possibly make you appear older? OH, that’s right, growing white hair. Yes really, your beautiful luscious hair (whether brown, red, black, mix, etc.) will slowly turn into the color of the paper that you’re writing your final essay on. And yes this actually happens, because recently I have been “complimented” on my new “skunk” hairstyle (ok my hair does not look like a skunk but it’s still noticeably whiter than before). Overworking causes stress which has notoriously been known to cause white strands of hair to sprout from people’s heads. Now, if you are all for looking like you should be in a retirement home, go for it. If you would like to keep whatever is left of your youth, then try to avoid the signs I just told you.
