I don’t know about everyone else, but I am so much healthier now that I am in college. I used to gorge myself in this weird dessert every single day. Most of us first-years probably did.
Consumed nightly, this treat satisfied my desire for more of it. The dessert tasted like cotton or polyester, and after consumed, it nourished my grades while stabilizing my emotions and sanity. I feel so much healthier without indulging in it every day – sleep.
Sleep is only for the time-wealthy. Besides being financially impoverished in college, we are all time-impoverished. And just as you must have money to spend on consumer goods, you must have time to spend for sleep. Completely broke for time, we cannot redeem it anymore to receive our happiness, consciousness or basic human decency.
“Sorry, professor Wright, I would keep my eyes open and my head off my desk, but I am time-broke.”
“Excuse me, Dr. Evans, but I am too time-impoverished to be here today. Can I gaze at the wall and absorb absolutely no knowledge today?”
“Hah, don’t worry about that Dr. Sanders. I just didn’t have time to eat and use the rest room. I’ll sit in the back of class.”
Before coming to college, my older friends told me that there are three options in college: good grades, a social life and sleep. “Pick two,” they said. They weren’t kidding.
Sure, I can squeeze sleep in. I just happen to do it in the front row of sociology on test day. Or sometimes it may be in the middle of a conversation; I’ve just convinced people that I have a disorder where my eyes roll to the back of my head and I go limp for 12-second periods randomly throughout the day.
I may also take the elevator and nap as it goes up two floors. Or sometimes I wake up at Spike’s with inappropriate drawings on my face and my head in the pizza I was eating 10 minutes ago. It happens.
Whether or not we fall asleep in our food, us first-years are learning just how time-broke we really are. And cramming class, eating, laundry, activities, socializing and homework all into a 24-hour time slot has bigger consequences.
Signs you are in college:
You go to bed tonight thinking this morning was a year ago, and a year ago was this morning.
You choose between eating and using the rest room.
You have more than 12 outstanding lunch dates to “catch up” with people.
You have more than 20 chapters in four different books to catch up on.
You have to do more work after your weekends are over than your weeks.
Now, none of these symptoms are preventable. There is no way to slow time down to its usual form, because it is now in hyper-college speed and it only accelerates from here. The longer you think you will one day get more sleep or a chance to catch up with everyone, the longer you lie to yourself.
Since you can’t stop time from flying by you, there is only one option left: You must manage it.
And I’m not talking about what our parents and counselors refer to as “time management,” I’m talking about making the most of our time. Seizing it.
In the words of Kenny Chesney – “Don’t blink.” And in the words of Roman poet Horace – “Carpe Diem.” Seize the day.
Seize the day, because if you don’t, all your days will turn into years without you noticing. I bet some of our seniors can testify to that.
Thinking about how time-deprived we are in college reminds me of the classic scene from “Dead Poets Society” where John Keating, played by Robin Williams, shows his class those who have come before them. He shows them the pictures of old alumni on the wall and bluntly states, “Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see, gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils.”
So, even though we may not be getting any sleep, sit back for a second and look at what you have accomplished this far in college. Be proud. Evaluate where you are and where you want to be and take Keating’s advice. Don’t wait until you catch up on sleep and it is too late. Carpe diem.
Very thoughtful. Thanks!