College is a difficult road and it offers us a lot of new opportunities and new adventures. However it also offers us a choice. A choice between sleep, social, and studies. We've all seen the lists of all three that then states a college student must pick two and forfeit the remaining one. This is too true to be funny once you're actually forced to choose. But in order to maintain two one must indeed let the third go. To be a good student who keeps up their friendships and relationships you cannot expect to obtain maximum sleeping hours. I have chosen my studies and my friends over my sleep, and possibly my sanity and well being.
My freshmen year, I was so tired all the time that I decided I would stop doing homework at midnight so that I could insure that I got an appropriate amount of sleep, but knew I could not give up my grades to do so. I started working on my homework earlier and earlier. This meant, however, that I lost the valuable time with my friends, and I still didn't always get my homework done in time for sleep due to organization meetings in the evenings, or the nights I chose to spend with my friends. I still lost some sleep. The reason was because I continued to try and balance all three in my life and this simply wasn't possible. So this year I went about it a different way.
This year, my sophomore year, I have decided to choose my friends and my studies over sleep. It is currently going about as well as one might imagine. I'm very tired all the time, and I'm sure my brain power really isn't the better for this choice. In fact, I may be going just a bit off the deep end, owing to the fact that whenever people ask me if I'm tired all I want to do is cry a lot while drifting off to a comfortable thirty hour nap. But, I spend a lot of time with my friends, and I've become friends with a lot of new people, and I'd have to say that this year has been the most fun year yet. I don't know if I'll continue to choose to not get sleep but for now I can only say it's what I want the least.
If you do decide to choose the two that I have this year just know that you are sacrificing your mental health to be both a good student and a good friend. But, also know that it feels better knowing your sacrifices aren't for nothing, and your friends and your studies will notice that you've chosen them. It will be hard, but fun, demanding, and exhausting. So make a choice or try to balance all three, and find the one that fits you best.
