As a sophomore in college with a full class load of science classes and extracurricular activities, I have heard a multitude of times, how I’m the friend that’s “always busy.” This has never been a foreign saying to me. All growing up, I packed my days full of literally anything I could think of. I took all the honors courses, joined ALL of the possible clubs at school, and worked full time. Now of course, this is not for everyone. I just personally felt lazy if my brain wasn’t occupied on something for a given period of time. I do not believe in living a sedentary lifestyle and there is no reason to revel in one.
After remaining, for the most part, productive through my youth, I decided to switch things up. For about 3 months of my senior year of high school I attempted to be the absolute laziest I’d ever been. Given, I still attended all my classes and worked most days. I cut back drastically on all other things. I waited till the last second to work on assignments, I hardly ever was on time to work, and in my free time I binge watched Netflix. Now, trust me, the appeal of lying in bed all day was ever enticing and did make me pretty happy for a small spurt of time, but this was no lasting effect. One can only last so long making a absolute minimum contribution to society. I basically ended up feeling tired ALL THE TIME (if you have this problem, possibly consider a lifestyle change?), as well as really never wanting to do anything. As Newton would concur, a body at rest will stay at rest until an outside force acts on it. My body for one was definitely going to remain at rest if I didn’t change something.
Now, come college, I was ready to do something with myself. This might not be where it begins for everyone, but I loaded up my class schedule and spent maximum time running around campus. I Started early with classes and ended in the library every night. I always made time for friends and my 10 meals a day, but I felt good at the end of every day. It was really hard to get used to, but I would rather be stressed trying to pack everything into one day than trying to find pointless activities to fill my time.
Now on the other hand, I had several weeks where I would slip up and not want to do anything, but I would definitely end up paying for it on the exam or the following week when I really was so behind that I debated withdrawing from everything.
With a busy schedule comes time-management, something I became much better at. I would squeeze in workout sessions, study sessions in between that, and make time to have healthy meals. Without knowing, I had things occurring at every hour on the hour, but never felt stress, because my body and mind were used to it.
So, if your friend seems like they are always busy, don’t berate them for it, just make sure to let them know you’d like to be penciled in.