Is Mercury in Retrograde or is it just us? In the midst of midterms week, everyone seems to be running around like their hair's on fire.
Ask any DePauw student and they will ring off a long list of things they have to do before Spring Break: a test and paper due in the same class on Friday, two tests and three papers due next week, an in-class presentation, meetings with two professors, an informal dance to attend, a Management Fellow meeting, and they still have enough time to gossip about our new president.
Are DePauw students being stretched too thin? Or do DePauw students just enjoy being busy, entertaining all of their various interests?
There’s a fine line between enjoying being busy and simply wanting to quit everything because the stress is too much to handle. This line is never perfectly walked, even for the dynamic and intelligent DePauw student.
Moreover, is this amount of stress healthy?
We could cite several sources explaining why stress is or isn’t healthy, but the fact of the matter is that whether or not it is, we will continue to be stressed after we graduate DePauw. In every single career we could go into, we will have everyday stresses that may seem unmanageable. However, what we don’t realize now is that the stresses and commitments we are handling now with our lives at DePauw are preparing us to handle even more serious and pressing situations in our later careers.
When we’re feeling overwhelmed by all of the activities we’re involved in, we need to learn to embrace the challenges we face and balance our time well because doing so will pay major dividends down the road.