Struggling to start
Photo Credit: GoogleImages
By Sarah Van De Weert, Opinions Editor
We have only been in classes for almost two full weeks. And I already have no motivation to read for all of my classes, no drive to work ahead on any of the papers that are due this semester, and no cares to give about my homework that is actually due tomorrow. This does not bode well for the beginning of my sophomore year.
I am relatively certain that this type of attitude is normal for the second week of the first semester after one’s first year of college, but for someone like me, with a type-A, perfectionistic personality, who goes to Gettysburg and is definitely over-involved, it’s not a good start. Especially since things only become more difficult and busier as the semester goes nears its completion.
I was looking at my calendar the other day, where I had written down every single day that I had an exam or a quiz or a paper due, you know, the big important assignments so that I could see when I had multiple things due on one day or in the same week and when I would have to work ahead on things. My first exam is now in less than two weeks—unfortunately, on that same day that my first paper is due. And my second exam? Of course it’s the day after both of those things. Then I have two exams on the same day one week later. Funny how that works out.
And I look at my calendar and see all of this coming up and I see all of the weekends in which I already have commitments which basically remove entire days from my life, and think, “I really need to start working on this stuff right now because I’m not going to have time to actually do it closer to when its due.”
Which brings me back to my first point: I want to do none of this stuff. I would much rather spend my time on Facebook, hanging out with friends I haven’t seen for the entire summer, or watching season nine of Grey’s Anatomy so that I am all caught up when the new season premiers. I would rather do anything right now than homework and reading for tomorrow or even work ahead so that I am not trying to BS my papers at 4 a.m. the morning that they are due.
I am not sure whether it is the beautiful weather that is making me want to procrastinate, the fact that I spent my summer having to read textbooks or write papers or study for exams, or if it is the fact that I am finally no longer a first year and that I am seeing all of the wonderful friends that I missed so much over the summer and meeting so many new ones, but something is clearly preventing my productivity.
Regardless of the immediate cause, the ultimate problem is definitely a lack of focus on my part and a lack of discipline (which was a huge focus of my high school, so I don’t know why this is so difficult).
But it is the second week of classes. It is okay to be more lax during the first week, especially since its syllabus week, but now is the time to get it in gear and get some work done while I can because later in the semester, I will be busier with all of the extracurricular involvements, work, and going home for several weddings and family functions. If I keep this pattern of being unproductive up, I am just going to be overwhelmed and not sleep during those weeks that I have a test and paper due in practically every class. Oh, and when all of the fun things begin happening in the middle of the semester, I want to be able to enjoy them and not be stuck inside writing paper after paper or reading the entire textbook because I never did any of my reading when it was actually due.
Right now, I have the time, the energy, and all of the sleep that I need to get things done. Later, I will not. It is time to buckle down, get focused, and do great work.
