Hey you, yeah you, stud muffin!
You have a keen eye for everything and an extreme desire (or OCD, call it what you will) for all things in the right order. Trust me, I consider myself an extreme breed of Type A.
As a student, A’s are your kryptonite, seeing anything below this threshold gives you major stress balls. I totally get it, you want to do your best both for yourself and for your professors. I am the exact same way! I am an expert on homeworking my brain and body until I no longer have a single burst of energy left.
Yes, I am that weird person who feels super, duper awkward if I don’t have any homework to do and sometimes feels bored! Sometimes, I will make myself do more homework or get ahead on things that aren’t due for the next week or two.
Needless to say, I am the modern-day college energizer bunny. You can be this way too, but BREATHE first and find balance.
You tire yourself day and night for that perfect test grade, that perfect last sentence of a wicked long paper, that perfect powerpoint slide for a group project all for that glorious A- and the nice GPA at the end of the semester, of course.
At home, your place and your personal life need to be in line. Every chair pushed in, every cabinet shut, ambiguous day old plates left in the sink have to be put away in the dishwasher. Your bed made, no wrinkles, every pillow fluffed to a certain extent because it’s all about the aesthetics, right?
You want to make your parents proud of your accomplishments — your grades, high honors, and involvements in clubs, etc. Receiving scholarships, either academic or athletic, and not straining your wallet too much to the point of not being able to adult.
If you’re in a relationship, you want to be there for your significant other without emotional baggage or the stress of reality — you want to be your one hundred percent every time you see them.
Spoiler alert: this isn’t always the case (gently and quietly slaps both sides of your face).
Now listen, young grasshopper:
Your desire to be above and beyond everyone else is such a great thing! You may consider yourself the motivator, the diligent one, but your mental health may be suffering for it.
Honesty time, now raise your hand if you’ve had a panic attack or extreme stress-balls moment because of: a grade lower than an A, throwing yourself under the bus when comparing yourself to others, having an early mid-life crisis over relationships or your future, or what your next move is after the semester?
If you have raised your hand to any of those, you need to CHILL OUT and deserve to be a little “lazier.”
No, I do not mean become a hobo couch potato and I do not mean to drop out of school. All I’m saying is be a little gentler on yourself — put you first.
You’ve probably heard this many times before, so I’m sorry if I’m sounding like that one nagging parent you have but it’s a nice reminder that you need to make more time for yourself; something that doesn’t involve the stressful adulting of life, like school or work.
It’s going to be a challenge, and definitely a process to figure out what works best for you, but you’re saving yourself from one less panic attack and a happier lifestyle.
Now get out there and be like this kiddo —
