It's normal to want to excel. It's normal to want to succeed. It's normal to crush the competition.
Why?
Why, in a society that is already fast-paced, intense, and (for the most part) progressive, do we continually strive toward a position above the rest? Why is it that we seem completely incapable of being happy with what we have?
We always hope for promotions. We always try to better ourselves. We always want more. Whether we do it in public or private...we are continually moving forward...and to us, moving forward means evolving into something more impressive than before.
We berate ourselves over the smallest off-beats. In the scheme of life, when will getting a bad test score or eating half a bag of Doritos really matter? Things along those lines shouldn't even register as minor set-backs, but somehow, we let them.
Why?
I want to be happy with my life. I want to be able to move to my remote Minnesota lake, work a might-as-well-be minimum wage job, and just be happy to exist.
You know what I really want RIGHT NOW? I want Cedar Falls to flood, forcing UNI to forgo distribution of final examinations.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
A Mid-College Crisis
In preparation for life, K-12 schools everywhere prepare students with ideas of endless possibilities.
College is like a brick falling smack onto the head. When the brick first drops, we don't even know it's coming. When we hear it, we look up, and prepare ourselves with less than a moment of preparation and a thought of deep depression. When it hits, life is over. That's it; there is no way out of the situation.
It's the perfect analogy.
Undergraduate Freshmen: They are ridiculous. They are all binge-drinking, slightly whore-ish, slacking, complainers who think they rule the campus. Anything is possible.
Undergraduate Sophomores: I think it's sometimes referred to as the 'sophomore-slump'...but that might just be what my friends and I deemed it. These are the kids who realize that life is actually happening...no matter how much we try to stall it. Still...anything is possible...the only difference is that everything is seen through a bit of a bleaker outlook than before.
Undergraduate Juniors: First semester - life is great. Anything is possible...and nothing can possibly go wrong. Then second semester hits...GPA's matter all of a sudden, close relationships with faculty and staff are key, and there is no more pretending that life after undergraduate is too far in the future to matter.
Is senioritis even possible in college? There is no way seniors fit that into their schedules.
The majority of us grow up with solid positivity and optimism ingrained in us. It's like we're placed in a crystal ball and everything we see through the ball shines with a certain, golden glow.
Then the second semester of our junior year in undergraduate comes around. The crystal is shattered; the glow is gone...and our optimism goes with it. Our young, curious, positive minds are no longer.
With second semester comes a new level of responsibility...and the ever-present question referring to the status of our futures.
'They' always talk about the mid-life crisis...but no one ever pays any attention to the mid-college crisis. Why is that? Is it because it's shameful? I'm not ashamed. I have no idea what I'm doing with my life. I feel like screaming it from the porch out of pure frustration sometimes.
You know what? A mid-life crisis can be solved with an expensive shopping spree...usually resulting in a large shoe collection, a shiny, new, expensive car, and / or the vacation of a life time. College students can't afford that. College students represent a large chunk of the U.S. citizens currently in debt...we can't even afford the education that is causing all of the stress!
I miss kindergarten.
College is like a brick falling smack onto the head. When the brick first drops, we don't even know it's coming. When we hear it, we look up, and prepare ourselves with less than a moment of preparation and a thought of deep depression. When it hits, life is over. That's it; there is no way out of the situation.
It's the perfect analogy.
Undergraduate Freshmen: They are ridiculous. They are all binge-drinking, slightly whore-ish, slacking, complainers who think they rule the campus. Anything is possible.
Undergraduate Sophomores: I think it's sometimes referred to as the 'sophomore-slump'...but that might just be what my friends and I deemed it. These are the kids who realize that life is actually happening...no matter how much we try to stall it. Still...anything is possible...the only difference is that everything is seen through a bit of a bleaker outlook than before.
Undergraduate Juniors: First semester - life is great. Anything is possible...and nothing can possibly go wrong. Then second semester hits...GPA's matter all of a sudden, close relationships with faculty and staff are key, and there is no more pretending that life after undergraduate is too far in the future to matter.
Is senioritis even possible in college? There is no way seniors fit that into their schedules.
The majority of us grow up with solid positivity and optimism ingrained in us. It's like we're placed in a crystal ball and everything we see through the ball shines with a certain, golden glow.
Then the second semester of our junior year in undergraduate comes around. The crystal is shattered; the glow is gone...and our optimism goes with it. Our young, curious, positive minds are no longer.
With second semester comes a new level of responsibility...and the ever-present question referring to the status of our futures.
'They' always talk about the mid-life crisis...but no one ever pays any attention to the mid-college crisis. Why is that? Is it because it's shameful? I'm not ashamed. I have no idea what I'm doing with my life. I feel like screaming it from the porch out of pure frustration sometimes.
You know what? A mid-life crisis can be solved with an expensive shopping spree...usually resulting in a large shoe collection, a shiny, new, expensive car, and / or the vacation of a life time. College students can't afford that. College students represent a large chunk of the U.S. citizens currently in debt...we can't even afford the education that is causing all of the stress!
I miss kindergarten.
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