I’m not afraid to say that it always makes my day when after a strenuous morning of classes, my mom gives me a call. As most mothers are, mine is a giver of the epitome of good advice, and so, it’s not rare if during these phone calls, I’ll spend a good 20 minutes ranting about the trials and tribulations of trying to earn a college degree. Specifically yesterday, I was asking her if I should choose to go out with the older girls in my sorority on Thursday night. I told her, “I feel like death.” I’ve been overwhelmed trying to balance all of the sorority events that have been added to my calendar along with my schoolwork, as well as trying to maintain a healthy diet, a social life with the friends of mine that aren’t in my sorority, and you know, maybe getting more than five or six hours of sleep a night for once. Managing schoolwork itself causes enough anxiety to send you to a psych ward in the 1950s, so adding the extra activities to my plate has been something I’ve been working on adapting to. My mom advised me to play it by ear, see how I felt later in the day, if I was up for it or not, and then decide. She reminded me to prioritize my classes, and to also take care of myself and not try to do too much at once. But seeing as after writing this blog my homework for the day will be done, I can almost guarantee that my F.O.M.O. (fear of missing out) on the first opportunity to get closer with the older sorority girls will swallow up the little angel on my shoulder telling me I should probably get a good night sleep and try to get rid of the beginning of this cold I’ve developed, before it becomes something worse. 

Neglect. That is the word that comes to mind whenever someone asks me what I think about the students’ health on a college campus. While at a university, kids are always going, going, going, and rarely stop to think about how they’re actually feeling. Or even if they know they’re not in good shape, mentally, physically, emotionally…whatever it might be, that issue falls way too far down on their list of priorities to be dealt with. 

Yesterday, a boy who lives on my floor, busted into my room, and between fits of demonic hacking, desperately asked if I had a cough drop. After I supplied him with one, and his cough attack had subsided, I asked him about his day. He told me it’s been long and he needed to somehow hype himself up for a frat event. I was surprised he said he was going because he’s been sick all week. He responded that while he would love nothing more than to lay in his bed and avoid the frat basement which has to be crawling with pathogens, he had to suck it up and go because he wanted to make sure he secures a spot alongside those brothers. 

Today at 7:30 AM my roommate had sort of a breakdown, but before you say “Oh, more girl drama…” let me explain. She works at least three days a week as a waitress, and last night she left for work at 4:00 and was supposed to get off at 11:30, but they kept her there until 1:00. After that, she stopped at a gas station where her car then died and she was stranded there for an hour. This morning she was waking up for her 8:00 AM during which she was going to have a quiz that she never got the time to study for. See, after a night like that I’m sure we’d all be crying. 

My last little anecdote is about my friend who attends another university. She made a joke on her ‘finsta’ story today saying that her “schoolwork induced depression is fueling [her] alcoholic lifestyle,” (don’t worry, she’s actually 21). While that does sound super dark, that’s just her sense of humor; I wanted to make that clear before people started handing me help hotlines to forward to my friend. But anyway, being as I can relate to the stresses of college, I did swipe up and we had a long conversation about trying to balance everything we have to do. It’s really quite daunting at times. She continued to tell me that while she loves college, she is struggling right now with finding time to put herself first and not worry about all the things she has to do for other people. 

I think we all need to remember that a little ‘me-time’ is necessary. The excitement, stress and constant buzz of life on a college campus sweeps us away all too easily, and we forget to come back down and reflect on how we are feeling and to spend the extra time to take care of ourselves. We can’t all do everything, it’s not possible. But maybe if we chose ourselves over others just a little more frequently, and actually took our mother’s advice to not outdo ourselves, the other things we prioritize might come a little easier and be more enjoyable for everyone.