It’s that time of year again, when you get to see your family and friends, share the holiday joys with them and eat real food. But, that joy doesn’t happen until you are finished torturing yourself with sleepless nights and emotional breakdowns.
Luckily for me, I haven’t had an emotional breakdown yet — knock on wood — but I am getting closer and closer to the edge of insanity as the assignments magically appear and haunt my every thought.
I do, however, suffer through the sleepless nights far too often. Being narcoleptic, my body is beginning to rebel and narcolepsy is starting to overpower me, but what else am I supposed to do?
I know that college is supposed to be difficult and push you to your limits, but the key word is limit. Some of my friends feel as if teachers have a tendency to load on the assignments at the end of the semester, but at the beginning it’s almost like they do nothing.
It feels like this week has been sneaking up on us and came out of nowhere. This semester has gone by so quickly and I know it isn’t because “time flies when you’re having fun.” It’s more than likely because I have been so busy I haven’t realized the time flying by.
I just really want to know if this lifestyle is healthy for me? Experts don’t recommend six to eight hours of sleep just for the heck of it and there aren’t stress eliminating techniques because stress is good for you.
Is all this stress and amount of work supposed to somehow prepare us for the future?
Not trying to be dramatic, but that’s the only way I can see these few weeks of hell having any purpose. Both of my parents work, but I don’t think I have ever seen them break down the same way I see some students do.
The amount of stress these two weeks hold is also dependent on the standards you hold your work to. Some students couldn’t care less about their grades, put no effort in and are satisfied with just getting by – personally I don’t understand why you are even in college.
Then you have the students, like me, who came to school to work hard and do well academically because receiving a good degree is the only way to get a good job – especially if you’re a woman. It isn’t easy for a woman to go into a trade style job. For some, school is all there is.
I just really hope that it pays off. You can’t get these years back and as much as it sucks and is more than likely unhealthy, I have learned a lot. It really couldn’t get any worse than this – could it?
BECKY HILKER
