As we all know, college has its major ups and major downs. We, as college students have awesome, great days and we have shitty, terrible days. Lately, I’ve been having a ton of the shitty, terrible days. Last week, I was in the library more than I was in my own room, and once I finally felt like I wasn’t stressed anymore, something happened to crush that pretty much instantly. Everything’s due at the same time, and it kinda feels like you have no time to even breathe, let alone sleep, shower, eat, etc. We’re supposed to get all our work done, go to all of our classes, take awesome notes, go to the tutoring center, read multiple articles, watch documentaries, go to practice, spend x amount of time in the library, take this test, write that essay, go to work, student teach, go to clinical, internships, whatever. And still have time to eat healthy, exercise, sleep 8-10 hours a night, shower every single night or morning, and be utterly and completely fine. We’re supposed to be social, and not stay in our rooms or the library all the time, but even going out for one night results in more stress the next. How are we, 18-24 year olds, supposed to juggle all this, and still be healthy, both mentally and physically?

The answer is, we’re not. We’re not robots. We’re humans. We’re humans who were kinda just thrown out into the real world, most of us not having learned things in high school we need to survive. We weren’t taught how to mange our time the right way, or how to balance all these things we have to do. We weren’t taught how to make a solid budget or how to not procrastinate. In high school, we were taught that our grades matter more than our mental health. We were taught that in college, mistakes are basically not allowed. We were taught how to write the alphabet and how to write out a heading for a paper, but we weren’t actually taught how to live. We weren’t taught how to fit at least 6-8 hours worth of classes and lectures, a minimum of 2-4 hours of homework, a minimum of 8 hours of sleep a night, an average total of 2 hours to shower and eat, and an hour to socialize into 24 hours. We weren’t taught how to effectively handle days that just aren’t your days. We were taught that we have to deal with it, and that the real world waits for no one.

But sometimes, you need to take some time for yourself. I am super stressed. I’ve been trying to do my work in a system, doing things that are due sooner first and working my way from there. That. Doesn’t. Work. In. College. At least, not for me, apparently. I have three classes on Mondays and Wednesdays. I have an online class that has work due Mondays at midnight. I have an 8 am class and a 10 am class in the same room on Mondays and Wednesdays. After that I have class from 4:35 – 6. I have at least 2 hours worth of work due for 2/3 of those classes each day, as well as 2 hours about for my online history class due Mondays. I have student teaching on Thursdays, which I wake up at 6:30 am to catch the bus and I don’t get back till 4 pm at the earliest. I have another online class that has homework due Thursday nights. On top of that, I have my weekly Odyssey articles, Future Educators Association on Mondays right after class, and e-board on Wednesdays right after class, a national pageant coming up over Thanksgiving, lesson plans, and more. I have ADHD, and my medicine wears off by the time my first two classes end on Mondays and Wednesdays and I can’t take Ritalin until 3:45 ish so it’s in my system for math. I have major trouble focusing on anything between my classes and after math, due to my medication wearing off. Thursdays, I have trouble focusing after student teaching, so basically Tuesdays and Fridays are my two days where I can get a lot done. Friday nights and Saturday nights are pretty much the only time im not in the library or my room.

I don’t want to socialize during the week. I physically have not wanted to see people or talk to anyone during the week, and I don’t know why. Well, that’s a lie. I do know why. My mental health is not where it should be. We, as college students, have SO MUCH PRESSURE on us to get good grades, to spend a solid amount of time on each and every assignment. We’re pressured to go out, and while we don’t want to miss out on the experiences, we’re trained to believe that our grades matter more than our mental health.

Personally, I’m at the point of a mental breakdown. I’m so stressed out, and student teaching, surprisingly, is the highlight of my weeks. I look forward to seeing my fifth graders smiling faces every week, and last week, Thursday was the only day I wasn’t stressing about anything, regardless of the fact that I had a major midterm paper due that night. Starting as early as first or second grade, we start believing that our grades matter most. We get it drilled into our minds by middle school that “you can do better if you just tried harder” or “that B won’t pass in college.” We’re trained to think that our best might not be good enough and that we need those extra three hours at midnight to study for the test the next day. We end up getting less and less sleep, resulting in more and more stress and sickness, which causes us to be even more stressed about what we’re missing due to being sick. It’s a never-ending cycle of “What’s more important? Your grades, your mental health, or your social life?”

As a future teacher, I get that it’s stressful. It’s not an easy job, not even a little bit. But, as a college student in today’s world, I see it from both sides. I see the teacher’s side, but I also see the student’s side. If our mental health is low, our grades won’t be so hot either.

Now tell me, how in the world can we safely and effectively manage to get all our work done without procrastinating on other work, without rushing through any of it, going to all of our classes, eating healthy, taking care of our hygiene daily, and having a social life, all while getting 8-10 hours of sleep a night? The answer is, we probably can’t. But what we can do, is work with society to teach us how to manage our time wisely, while also teaching us that our mental health is just as, if not MORE important than our grades.

This article started out as an outlet for me. I use writing as my outlet for stress or anything. I write out my emotions and feelings MUCH easier than I can speak them, and right now, I’m feeling very very very stressed. I started this as a ranting thing, just for my own eyes. It turned into an article, and I’m super proud of it. Stop teaching students that our grades are more important than our health.

Spoiler alert. They’re not.