Achieving the Balance
As we move further into the second semester of my first year at St Andrews, a distinct feeling of dread has come over me. The feeling I’d imagine you’d get as you sprinted full speed towards a cliff and struggled to pull the brakes. The elusive life balance has evaded me once again as I attempt to juggle as much responsibility as I possibly can in order to squeeze out every ounce of opportunity presented to me at university.
It all began as I decided to invest more time in the social aspect of university, meeting up with various friends every day of the week, trying every cafe in town. I also decided that I was ready to find a job, to finally lessen my child-like dependence on my parents for money and to expand my creative boundaries, indulging in photography and other art forms.
Yet as I hurtle towards Summer exams I can’t help but wonder if my time would have been better spent with my head down doing more than the minimum amount of required uni work. I took my eye off the academic prize for what felt like half a second but it was in order to have what has been almost undoubtedly the best year of my life and thus, I write this article in a very much “no ragrets” mind set. After all to quote the infamous statement that will almost definitely act as my famous last words at university; ‘it is only first year’.
Perhaps we must also bear in mind however, that I write this blog having pulled an all nighter on an assignment set a month ago, at the end of a full day of work as a waitress with a two-hour driving lesson on the side.
Combine this with the result of finally glancing down at my phone to be met with an email stating, “I hope you’re enjoying the lectures on anthropology and childhood and that you’ve made a good start on your second essay.”
I’ll admit it; the sirens in my brain are going off. This is it. This is the work, life, sleep triangle. I knew I’d encounter you one day.
So for now, I’m off to work, to mend the damage that has been done and to probably even miss a few Friday night parties in the process. Do I recommend this hectic mess of an experience? Absolutely. But will the triangle be broken?
Probably not. I’ll keep you updated.