Chances are, if you have ever uttered the words, “I’m tired” or “I have a busy day” on a college campus, you were immediately swarmed by other students crying:
“I only slept two hours!” “I have 6 jobs, 19 credit hours and am president of 3 clubs!” “I had 3 cups of coffee and 2 Red Bulls… before lunch!”
It almost seems like it’s a rule or something for college students to brag about how busy and tired they are, like it’s a competition for who is the most overloaded. I have news for you, no one really cares how busy you are.
I don’t get this trend. Am I busy? Sure, some days. I have a job and a full course load, but that’s about it. I work hard, of course, and have been on the Dean’s List every semester. I have had two internships (over the course of a year), and am in an honor society. And I have plenty of time to watch Netflix for hours on end. I don’t feel the need to fill my time with anything else.
I started to examine what the cause of the “Overloaded Student” phenomenon was, after hearing the thousandth student last week say they had no time to do anything. I have come to the conclusion that a good deal of the students who accept nothing less than a killer schedule are doing so because they feel that it’s the only way to be successful.
Many students feel the desperate need to fill their resume before graduation so that they can become employed. This is a great goal to strive for, but at what cost? Your mental and physical health? Happiness? Opportunities to engage in the world around you? I firmly believe that there are going to be opportunities for you to get a job whether you have one club or 10 clubs. You might even get burnt out before you even make it to an interview.
I wish more students would realize that college is our last chance to fully experience the joys of youth before we’re buried in obligations. I know some of you reading this right now are saying, “these things I am doing are obligations.” But I mean real obligations. I mean leaving work to pick up your sick child and take them to the doctor or going to work and doing your job, every day until you retire. Things that you don’t do just to fill up your resume, things that you do because you have to.
Personally, I find that working on becoming my best self is more important that working on what I look like on paper. I would rather fill my time with challenging myself to excel in a few things, than simply getting by in many.
This may not apply to all the students who should just invest in an espresso IV-drip, but I think it applies to the majority.
Don’t spread yourself so thin that you miss out on the whole purpose of the journey. Don’t do something just to say you did it. Make sure you are doing what you are doing for all the right reasons and remember that you don’t have to do it all, to have it all.
