Pit. Pat. Pit. Pat. I could hear my feet hit the pavement, even over the notes floating out of my earbuds. Slow, rhythmic and dull, it was invigorating to feel my legs carrying me along this path that wound away from campus. This is my work-life balance.
Whenever I’m feeling overwhelmed with the loads of work I have piled above me, I lace up my running shoes. Not because the exercise is cathartic (though it is), but because it gives me an opportunity to leave my phone in my room, buzzing away without anyone to answer it. If I don’t know that someone is trying to get ahold of me, then I can’t feel irresponsible for not answering. It’s kind of an “ignorance is bliss” sort of a way of life.
So often, college students are slaves to their devices. Not in a vilifying, technology is evil, throw away your phone way, but rather a “I have to answer these three emails and seven texts right now because someone needs me right now” way. We’re constantly checking our phones not because we want to ignore those around us but because we fear what will happen if we don’t--will someone ask me an urgent question? Will a professor assign extra homework or cancel class? Will one of my friends need my help?
In college, our work is our life. Our majors, our activities, our clubs, our friends--they are our families. They are the only things that matter. If we fail to fulfill one thing, we feel as if we have failed as a whole. There is no work-life balance because there is no distinction between the two. Our generation is breeding ground for workaholism and family negligence because we don’t know how to stop.
Our whole lives, we were told to chase down any and all opportunities. Extra activity? That will look good on a college application. New leadership position? That will be a great addition to my résumé. One more thing added to my plate? Sure thing. I can do it.
And we can. Because these efforts we are putting forth quickly transform into passions, and we wouldn’t dream of cutting them out of our lives because they mean so much to us.
This is where the whole “slaves to technology” thing comes into play. We stay connected to our phones and tablets and laptops because we want to help when we can. We want to be available at all times of the day because we care so much about what we do. We want to be the best we can be at everything we do, which is where the workaholic things comes into play. We work hard because our great loves tend to be the things that we do. It makes it really hard to draw the line between work and life because in so many ways, they are the same thing.
I struggle everyday to find time to spend away from my responsibilities to others. Not because I’m callous and uncaring about my activities--quite the opposite. I take the time because I need to recharge my batteries in order to be the best that I can be. It comforts me to know that I can walk away if I ever chose to do so. It keeps my workaholic tendencies at bay--at least for a short while. But I, like all college students, return to campus at the end of my break to find my life and my work waiting for me to tackle it.
