COLUMN: Take time to slow down
Weekly log, ethnographic study observation paper, public service announcement, final advertisement, photo essay, midterm, Spanish essay, meetings, doctor appointment, car insurance and phone bills, class, homework and sleep. What do you do when there is simply too much to do?
I have found myself in this position too often throughout the last semester. I, and many others, over-estimate my ability to run on empty and under-estimate the time actually necessary in order to succeed in school. I sleep an average of four to five hours every night and walk through every day exhausted, doing things at the last minute possible under constant stress. This is no way to live life.
Quite frankly, I have no advice (good thing because I am not an advice columnist) other than it is important to learn your limits and force yourself to stay within them. Friends can come in handy teaching you this lesson. Sometimes learning this lesson is impossible until life has fallen out from underneath you – once you’ve hit the bottom the only choice is to get back up and keep going. Listening to the people you love will only benefit you, even if you don’t want to hear what they are saying.
Another problem that factors into this tendency to be overcommitted is passion. We do what we do because we love it, even school. To dedicate your time and effort into any event or organization shows you care about what it stands for and want to make a difference through your work. Here is a hard reality check; it can go on without you. Your contributions are valued and welcomed, but you are not individually responsible for the growth of any organization. It will continue to flourish and maybe you can come back after you have taken care of yourself.
The problem with being incessantly busy is not the hectic schedule. The problem is the neglect of caring for one’s own needs because of the busy schedule. Call it what you may – burnout, exhaustion, run down, but in order to take care of others we need to take care of ourselves. All of the exhaustion and running will be over in four years, at least theoretically, so take time to sit still, have some fun and enjoy being a college student before it’s over. Work will be there for the next 50 years, but this time and these people will not.
Everybody has their own unique reasons to run-run-run through life and some of these reasons are completely valid. But no reason can justify neglecting yourself. Everyone needs time to reboot emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually, and as life continues it only becomes more important that this takes place. Think about it: Isn’t it ridiculous that we need to schedule in time to relax? What does that say about our (yes, I did use the inclusive ‘we’) culture? We are individualistic people who value the opinion of the collective group. We value our to-do lists more than the man sitting in the next cubicle.
So what’s the moral of the story? Sit down and take a break before your go-go-go turns into a stop-stop-stop. Nothing is worth a meltdown.
Jon Dalton is a junior majoring in public relations. Questions or comments can be sent to him at jon.dalton@aggiemail.usu.