The day before I return to college after every break, I hear the same comment from my mom: “You looked absolutely exhausted when you came home, but you look much more rested and relaxed now.” Do I learn from my affinity for overcommitting and cut down? No way.
Sure, other people I know are busier than me. One friend had one half hour of free time a week that semester. Sadly, that is no exaggeration.
Hillsdale, and many other colleges that select from high-achieving top-of-the-line students, tends to foster a community of over-commitment. What do I mean by that? Students commit to classes, work, several clubs and honoraries. I won’t use my own schedule as an example because I don’t want to bore you or sound like I’m bragging. But I will say that I do not have enough time to put 100% into every activity of which I am a part. I cannot help with every classics honorary event or dance in most of the student dance company pieces. Instead, I have to pick and choose every day, limiting from dozens of opportunities to no more than a dozen. That’s all I can handle.
It is far too easy to feel already the stress and strain of classes, clubs, performances and paychecks. But when I considered auditioning for yet another thing, my roommate encouraged me to be brave. She told me that it’s okay to be busy, but that I cannot use it as an excuse to shy away from something I want to try. College may be the only time you have access to all the clubs and opportunities you want to explore without the risk of wasting money or effort. And, as the head of the theater department told us right before the audition, “You’re going to fill your free time with something…it might as well be something you love.”
Even if I have not learned how to pare down my schedule, I have learned some very important life lessons from college which the twenty-four hours encompassing the audition revealed.
Firstly, it’s okay to not be the best. The worst possible outcome is figuring out that you aren’t good at something. That’s scary for us high-achievers. We don’t like to fail. I struggled with that as I ranted to my roommate about the audition – what if I look like a complete idiot in front of the freshmen and friends who were also trying out for the same play? Well, as one of my favorite childhood movie heroines said, “Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.”
Second, you can do too many things. I realize that sounds like the opposite of what I’ve been saying this whole time. Here’s my point: if you are doing all those things to build a resume or to impress other people, you will be overwhelmed and unhappy. If you do it because you love it, it won’t be a strain. Learn to prioritize what matters to you. There will never be enough hours in the day to try everything.
So do what you love. Be bold. And never let fear keep you on the bench. Here’s to a year of humility and boldness.
