‘Mozzers tonight?’ ‘Sorry, I’m working’
‘Tp tomorrow?’ ‘Nope working’
‘Lemmy Saturday?’ ‘Err no, I think I’ll be working’
‘Right…Well when can I see you?’ ‘Not sure, busy! Better get back to work…’
This is a conversation that we have all experienced. You want to see your friend, but they are seemingly always unavailable. Never out, always in the library, or cooped up in their rooms. For a while now the only bouncer they’ve experienced has been a b*tchy librarian asking them to leave at 2am. They are, what we call, a workaholic.
Now don’t get me wrong, I know the example I am using is an extreme, but I am here to tell you that there is nothing wrong with enjoying a night out or two, even if it means putting off some work. My argument is that your university social life forms the greater part of your experiences here, and what a waste if you have spent all of it laptop-bound, emerging at graduation with your only friends being a can of redbull and the woman who takes your BART admission essays.
The way to do this is so simple, I almost feel bad spelling it out to you. Balance is all it takes, and sometimes allowing your work to take a backseat can create experiences and memories that will last far longer than that time you managed to answer a question in your seminar. Time-management is the key here, and I propose that instead of scheduling your life around your work, try it the other way around for a week and see how it feels. Make a timetable for the week, pencilling in any nights you want out, lunches you want to go for, or purely just leisure time you want for yourself. Now write in what work you will do around it. Organisation of your week can help you not only play better, but work better too.
My theory is these pockets of time will prove to be far more productive when you know something good is coming along. Short bursts are better than long, drawn out library trips in which you end up getting a law lib hot chocolate every ten minutes, scanning Youtube for obscure clips, and seeing what Hogwarts house you’re most suited to (…Gryffindor obviously). You obviously have to be sensible… that 3000 word essay won’t write itself whilst you’re out in Mosaic partaking in a Jager train, but with proper organisation of the time you have available, your social life needn’t suffer. You only get this one chance to really experience the time and freedom to enjoy yourself before you enter the big bad scary world of real work, of office politics, and nightmare bosses, so take it. Make sure you don’t just leave university with a degree, but with the knowledge that you spent your time here productively, lived it to the full, and have gained friends, memories, and experiences that will remain with you as you embark on a new chapter of your life.
Let’s face it, we’re students.