If I could count the times I’ve caught myself peering up at the clock, tapping the home button on my phone to check the time, blocking out and color-coding events on my calendar, I probably would have wasted an hour out of my day at the very least worrying about time. Ironic. Typical, I know. Frankly, it’s inevitable as college students (and generally ambitious people) to live our lives planned to the hour, squeezing in appearances. That good ol’ impending feeling of dread when our designated free time swiftly tick-tocks away. I get it. I’ve been guilty of adding events to my calendar just so it appears full. I’ve sprinted across campus to pick up a resume and arrived frazzled and five minutes late at another meeting. I’ve sat in the library for embarrassingly long amounts of time, only to begin working at ten o’clock.
So, what would happen if those deadlines and meetings and penned in lunches and 2 a.m. nights were on your side? If you could have endless amounts of time to complete all the tasks in front of you? Yes, you technically only have 24 hours in your day, but if you’re simply powering through it all, you may be missing the point. And I’m sure time is exhausted of being the enemy. It is freeing to slow down and immerse yourself in what you are experiencing. Make an attempt to write that research paper for a class you were excited about at the beginning of the semester and engage with it. Apply yourself to that stats problem set and feel proud of it. After all, your resulting pages of work are actually pretty admirable. It can also be as simple as appreciating your body while working out at the gym or taking that nap because you know you need it. It’s never a waste of time because time is not the enemy. Time will expand for you when you put good energy into all the demanding aspects of your life. Time is on your side.