Time Management: to Sleep or Not to Sleep

For me, time management is by far the most difficult aspect of college life to adjust to. Having gone to boarding school myself, I figured it would be a breeze; that I would be completely accustomed to the chaotic tendencies of living away from home. Wrong. There are so many things I have to accomplish each day, in addition to so many things that are a complete waste of my time that I love to do each day (such as watch reality TV). At times, I feel as though it is incredibly hard to juggle everything. The infamous S’s are a hard three-some to handle: Sleep, Study, Social (or for the more talented, Sport).
Oftentimes I sacrifice sleep in exchange for the other S’s, studying and socializing. However, it is those moments in my statistics class when I am almost positive that my professor is not conducting class in the English language that I realize I quite possibly made the wrong decision. It can be extremely discouraging when you look around and everyone seems superhuman except for you, the one mortal among a pantheon of gods. (This is especially true when I look around the room at my beautiful sorority sisters, who are beautiful, kind AND intelligent). The truth is, however, that most of us are mere mortals and have to make choices everyday. Between the beckoning homework, breakfast, lunch, dinner, classes, clubs, internships, jobs, Facebook and socializing, there is not much time to rest. It is extremely difficult to make the right decision between socializing, studying and sleeping.
In my opinion, sometimes sleep is more important, because without it, everything else falls apart. Yet, there are times when the energy one gets from being around friends can act as a stimulant as well. In addition to making conscious decisions about how to organize your time, there are also the subconscious ones, like unintentional procrastination. Have you ever found yourself reading Perez Hilton and shuffling through Facebook photos without realizing how much time has gone by? I know that it happens to the best of us. Sometimes you just need a break from the air-tight schedules we experience as college students.
It is important to understand that you are not alone in the fight for time. Everyone is faced with the choice of work versus sleep. I personally believe that sleep is valuable and often the first thing we marginalize in our quest for accomplishing all the tasks we have before us each day. In truth, I know that if I have not slept enough at night, it shows in my performance the next day.
I do not profess to have the right answer to: can one really have it all. I think the answer is probably no. But maybe we can balance the three S’s if we manage them over time. There is so much to do and so many opportunities worth experiencing at GW, and I guess if we manage it well, we will leave here as amazing jugglers. So I suppose above all, be true to yourself. Know yourself well enough to manage your time efficiently. After all, we are here at GW to learn. Sometimes it is hard to lose sight of that reality.