College students and 8 am classes are two things that do not go well together, yet every student must face these dreadful classes at least once during their four years in school. While some say that 8 am class is worth it because you get your classes over with early, most would agree with me that they are a gift from Satan himself. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ five stages of grief proposed in her book “On Death and Dying” truly exemplify the mourning felt when waking up to fulfill our responsibilities.
1. Denial
It’s 7 am and your dreadful alarm pierces your ears. You refuse to accept the fact that you have to get up in order to make it to your class so you casually press the snooze button a couple of times, pretending everything is a-ok. This temporal state takes us into the first wave of pain…
2. Anger
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It isn’t until it is 7:45, 15 minutes before class starts, that reality finally sets in and the internal pain emerges. You angrily shut down all alarms that have been going off for the past 45 minutes. At this moment, every little thing irks you due to lack of sleep, hunger, and the early wake up call.
3. Bargaining
You question whether or not you should just say “screw it” and skip class just to crawl right back into the humble abode known as your bed. You tell yourself how much you deserve to sleep some more and avoid the inevitable by counting in your head how many skips you have left, deciding if it’s worth ditching class (again).
4. Depression
Like the good student you are, you eventually make your brisk journey to class. During this journey, you suddenly regret your decision and your bed is all that is on your mind. You mourn the fact that you’re awake at this hour and you dread listening to a professor, knowing that the information will probably go in one ear and out the other if you're not fully attentive.
5. Acceptance
By now, you’re in class sitting down and at some point reality is finally accepted. While it only took four stages to reach this one, you are extremely proud of yourself for getting up to do adult things like college. Go you! Now you have nap time to look forward to.
