The middle of the Fall 2014 semester has arrived. The middle of the semester signals the beginning of some wonderful things, such as the ability to start tentatively unpacking your sweaters in preparation for cooler weather and the onslaught of the pumpkin spice flavor being marketed in every single food product imaginable. There’s a whisper in the air of the holiday season just around the corner, when we can go home and blissfully forget about project deadlines.
However, it also signals the crunch time of the semester. Midterms are here, and your online class suddenly has five assignments due in two weeks. When you finally get the chance to sit down and breathe, you realize, “Oh my God, it’s almost time to start picking classes for next semester.”
I feel that this semester has flown by, and it’s been one of the most stressful semesters I’ve had yet. Comparing the semester’s trials and tribulations with friends, I find that many students at UF are starting to feel a little exhausted, stressed and overworked. Many of us are wondering if in the long run all of this work is really worth it.
Here is a message for everyone: You can do it.
As a body of college students, we generally operate on minimal sleep. We occasionally manage an entire day’s worth of activities on nothing more than a large, iced coffee. We stuff our days full of meetings and classes and social activities and return home at the end of the day with more than five hours of homework to complete or lectures to study. We stay out all weekend and wake up for an 8:30 class Monday morning. We finish papers right before their due dates and cram for tests like our lives depend on it. College is hard. The middle of the semester is hardest because the buildup of living continuously on deadlines is finally starting to add up and weigh heavily on our shoulders.
Despite this, we can do it.
Complaining about our classes is therapeutic in the short term. However, these classes and these tough and stressful situations will ultimately help us get where we want to be in life, whether that’s medical or law school, studying in a graduate program or starting a career. Sometimes, when we are so focused on the stressful aspects of life, we forget about what we are working toward.
Ask yourself: Why are you here in school? What are you aiming for? Where do you want to be in 10 years? It’s totally fine to have no clue what you want to be when you grow up — I still don’t know myself.
Most people do have some idea of what they want their lives to be like, what they want to see when they look back on their college days in their — hopefully — old age.
Remembering why we are here and what we want to do in the future can be a rallying cry to help pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off when the pressures of the semester start to become unbearable.
In the hard, dreary doldrums of the Fall semester, I urge everyone to remember why they want to be in college. I urge every student to say to themselves once a day, “I can do it.” Being able to attend college at all makes us incredibly fortunate and privileged.
So many people around the world do not have the resources we as students do or even the ability to pursue any education at all. Education is the most crucial and beneficial opportunity that will be offered in our lifetime. Whether you are working for a specific degree or learning for learning’s sake, we are all lucky to be here at UF — despite the struggles of our football team.
I, like probably most college students, struggle frequently with procrastination. If you don’t, I commend you. Tell me your secrets.
I’m going to make a conscious effort in the second half of the semester to remind myself, “I can do this.” I can succeed this semester and conquer it with the power of my pencil, my highlighter and my computer. I will put on some good studying music and stop procrastination in its lazy, meandering tracks. I will remember the goals and aspirations I’m working toward when it seems like studying for my next economics test is slowly killing me.
Let’s all remind ourselves of these things because our education is important and always will be.
Let’s remember that we can do this.
Sally Greider is a UF English and public relations sophomore. Her columns appear on Tuesdays.
[A version of this story ran on page 7 on 10/21/2014]
