Hi friends! welcome to the blog :)
Today, I’m going to share a piece of truth that many college students may be going through, but I do NOT speak for all. I speak for myself and from my experience.
Throughout multiple blog posts, I have done my best to stay positive but truthful sharing the “college experience” from fellow students. this blog post will not be different with an exception of a vibe change.
Working during college is not easy. Working during a pandemic is not just “working”.
Combine those two things, add some assignments - that become overdue and a student trying to figure out their place in this world, this institution, this patriarchy that was not built for them yet they still find a way to thrive, and I don’t even know where I’m at. I don’t know about you, but this sounds like a recipe for disaster or a breakdown waiting to happen. At this very point in time, I feel as though this is where I am - a breakdown waiting to happen.
Some students feel (I, sometimes) feel comfortable enough to reach out for help from professors or help offered by whomever/ wherever- which is an awesome first step and sometimes the comfortability for some isn’t quite there yet. This is a good opportunity to sit down with the feelings we have and process them, process our emotions, the baggage we’re carrying with us through school and maybe even life- but this can be very heavy for first timers and folks who genuinely let themselves feel, but it’s not impossible. I feel more connected than ever with myself when I allow myself to feel, but simultaneously disconnected with environments around me.
In all honesty, I’m tired. I feel exhausted as if I’m burning out trying to give every bit of my energy to everyone but myself. When I’m not working in the early morning, I’m at school all evening. When I’m not at work or school, I’m trying to do my assignments and catch up on work I’ve fallen behind on. When I’m not doing any of that, I’m trying to take care of myself the best way I know how- through sleep and rest.
At the end of the day, students are really doing their most- on top of everything else they’re trying to handle and manage. No one has it "easy".
I’m speechless. This is only a piece of transparency.
The cool and interesting thing about life is you learn in the present how to take care of things in the future. I guess the moral of this blog post is to remind us and myself that we do not have to do this alone. But a question I will leave folks with is: how is one expected to do it all? Will this literally be forever, the new “normal” we know and have others already been there?
If you made it this far, thanks for sticking around.