It is no secret that college students have one of the most chaotic lifestyles; whether it be drinking too much coffee, lacking proper sleep (sometimes going days without more than eight hours of sleep), or constantly eating out because there's no time to actually cook or meal prep something healthy. But, what many college students don't realize is that they are not immune to the impact that these things have on the body, or how stress may contribute to different health issues throughout the years. It took me a while to realize that my health was drastically declining because of the "college-like" behaviors I adopted into my life, such as relying on coffee to stay awake, never having time to work out my body at the gym, and dealing with never-ending high stress levels. It wasn't until I was a junior that I realized I had gained weight, I wasn't exactly happy, and that the dark circles under my eyes had become a permanent physical feature. But none of this really hit me hard until I truly started caring about my education.

For the first couple of years of college, I attended a community college that felt like high school. I hardly attended classes if I didn't have to and I wasn't motivated to go above and beyond, so I always skirted at an easy 70-80 grade range. I never let myself stress about exams or assignments because I knew I would, at the most, get a passing grade. My grades were pathetic, but I didn't care much because at that moment, all that mattered was getting my associate degree diploma. When I transferred to William Paterson University and my GPA was wiped clean—an amazing benefit for transferring with a completed associates degree—I was given another chance and decided to work as hard as I could to get the best grades possible. That was the moment I chose my education over my health. For two years following my acceptance into William Paterson, I worked tirelessly to be the best and to make my family proud of my academic accomplishments, but in the process, I completely forgot about myself. Yes, I was getting A's in all of my classes, and even getting one question wrong on an exam would throw me into a panic because I didn't want my 4.0 GPA to fall. Graduating with honors, the top of my class, was the only thing on my mind. I gained about twenty pounds and was the heaviest I had ever been, I found out that I had hormone problems and adrenal gland deficiency, and I completely isolated myself from friends and family. And yet, I would not stop and I continued to ignore my health by taking on more and more responsibility with club leadership, internships, and even writing for websites like the Odyssey.

I wanted to prove everyone wrong, but in the end, I had failed my own body. What would graduating with honors matter if I would become extremely sick from my decline in health? What would graduating at all matter, if my health was so bad that I wouldn't even be able to work in the future? I chose my education over my health, and sometimes I'm afraid to talk about it because people think it's a ridiculous concept. People will say "you're a college student, that's how it goes," instead of actually talking about the problem of the decline in student health and how students can get help on campus. No one ever talks about counseling on campus's for students who lose themselves to the stress of school and simply need someone to tell them that "a grade doesn't define you." No one ever talks about how college students suffer in silence because they feel like they have to, like it is part of some journey to adulthood. No one ever talks about the students like me, who work so hard and achieve everything, but are left with the chaos of health decline.

We need to talk about student health more. College students may be in transition to adulthood, but that doesn't mean they should be left in the dust.