“Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” –Benjamin Franklin
That sounds lovely, ole’ Benji. Clearly, you are not a college student in 2012. Someday I’ll call you and explain Twitter and Snooki and get you brought back up to speed…
College is full of wonderful, exciting experiences. The trouble is, there are SO many of these experiences, in and out of the classroom, that your schedule fills up faster than the fro-yo machine in Market Square. (Seriously. I have yet to get frozen yogurt and not spill it on myself…)
It is important to take time to evaluate how much time you need to dedicate for each class, exercise, a healthy amount of sleep, and how many organizations you can really dedicate yourself to without spreading yourself too thin.
During my freshman year, I was involved in something every single day of the week, and I was exhausted. I scrambled around to stay a part of every group, without truly giving anything the attention and commitment it required.
So, I took a step back and examined which activities brought me the most joy, which groups offered me the best opportunities to serve and grow and learn, while still saving time to devote to my studies and my friendships. It was a slow process, full of hard conversations of saying “no” to previous commitments, but feeling free to fully say “yes” to the things that were important to me.
In high school, it was easier for me to balance a lot of things at once, but I had to start getting pickier, and more intentional in college.
Another invaluable piece of wisdom I found during this time is to set aside time to reflect and rest alone. TCU is surrounded by great places to read, listen to music, journal, and think. Your four years will go faster than you think, and to quote our dear friend Ferris Bueller, “if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it”.
So eat well, sleep well, study hard and play hard. Before stepping on campus, or even once you get here, ask upperclassmen about their different majors and organizations. Take the first semester and try new things! But then, buckle down and choose what matters to you. The best community and the richest experiences come from thoughtful commitment.
You may not get too bed as early as Benjamin had in mind, but you’ll go to sleep knowing what you did that day was worth it. Anyways, he lived before modern, non-lightning electricity and Late Night Breakfast…
