[Newbie Rebecca Shore puts our massive workload in perspective]
Clearly, procrastination is a problem that affects everybody. Right now, I’m writing this post instead of my English essay, and you’re probably reading it instead of writing yours. Indeed, some students feel unmotivated to do anything besides sleep or eat, and things that were previously enjoyable, like reading for fun, suddenly lose all appeal.
If this is happening to you and you’re worried that you might be clinically depressed or something, according to my NON-MEDICAL diagnosis you’re wrong. You’re simply overwhelmed. I fully believe that procrastination stems from students like us being overworked and overbooked as we try to do it all.
Professors seem to forget the fact that besides their one class we have other classes and life to worry about. They expect us to do anything and everything it takes to prioritize them, and we do try to live up to such an expectation. But it’s difficult to constantly be worrying about academics without a break. And of course, most of us are still pretty burnt out from working hard in high school to get into this university.
I guess I’m just expressing the wishes that are running through everybody’s mind right now: can the work ease off, can we get a break? And the answer, of course, is no. But I guess if you think about it, that’s a good thing.
In a way, having tons of work is the only thing that keeps us grounded and sane. Who knows what we’d be doing if we didn’t constnatly nag ourselves to actually do work–chances are we’d stop focusing on what we’re here for in the first place: school. Yes, it is annoying that the work is almost impossible to keep on top of if you’re not an academic machine. And I believe that often the grades we receive in a class don’t reflect how much we know or learned, which sucks majorly. But I am comforted knowing that I’m learning in a university that is taken seriously and takes me seriously, and has the faith in me to raise the expectations in the first place.
So work hard, party hard, and procrastinate in good health. Just try not to get it to the point where you’re basically a goldfish and do nothing but sleep and eat.