When you enter college they say that you have to choose two of three: a social life, good grades, and sleep. Being ambitious and a fresh college student, I thought (as most students do at first) that I could break the system and be the student that had all three! You can have it all! I will eat my cake, and sleep a lot too!
Nope. And whoever decided to make it a triangle was dumb because it’s clearly something more like a decagon. Other points of the shape include your health, work, money, personal hygiene, mental health, and I’m sure there are many more that I can’t think of. It really is impossible to do all of these things, go to class and still achieve any where near a 4.0. Just this morning I woke up, read for two hours, went to work, went to my sorority chapter meeting, went to the gym, and now am home doing more reading. Oh, did I mention I need to do laundry as well?
So, we need to prioritize. And, to be honest, it’s possible to get through your week without completely falling apart. Last semester, I never went to the gym. I though that getting good grades was the most important thing and that my health could wait until later. But you know what I realized? Going to the gym makes school easier. I feel better about myself on days I go to the gym, and when I regularly go, I have significantly more energy (I used to hate people who told me this, but it’s actually true!).
As for things like cooking? Yes, takes up more time than heating up a frozen pizza or going to the Corner. But going to the Corner regularly gets expensive, and why go to the gym when you’re just going to ruin it with some crappy, calorie filled dinner? While doing all of your work is important, sometimes it’s easier to get through all of that work when you have the energy, and when your belly is full of a yummy salad and chicken instead of greasy fries. In addition, when you cook food yourself you can Instagram it and make all of your friends jealous that you made yourself an actual meal. Instagramming food might be going out of style, so I would take advantage of that while you can.
So, yes. You have to pick. Can you go out until 2 am every night and still make it to class in the morning? If you can, then you go right ahead and I will applaud your efforts. Can most people? No. But you make due with what you’ve got to get through the day, the week and the year. And personally, when it comes time to finals, please shower. Those extra 15 minutes will not make a significant dent in your final grade. And personal hygiene is important.