This week, the cold weather reclaimed whatever ground spring attempted to make in thawing out the frozen landscape and students’ end of the year stress. Students were driven inside by the unforgiving rain only to realize how much work they actually have and just how much of it they neglected in their pursuit of some elusive warmth. With Ivies approaching, there is a reluctant acceptance that no work will actually be done in the coming days despite the fact that students seem to be facing a daunting workload. But it’s not just projects and papers. Adding to the stress is housing. The randomness of the lottery and the frustration in receiving an undesirable housing assignment certainly adds to people’s anxiety. Speaking of uncertainty, summer is around the corner and many students are worrying about finding an internship. Will you get what you wanted?
I was recently sitting in the library and heard an extremely earnest and alarming comment that almost made me hyperventilate: “ If I don’t pull an all-nighter then I won’t have studied enough for my test. If I fail my test then, then I’ll fail my class, which means I wont get my research position over the summer, which means I’ll have to scramble to get a job, but I probably won’t get one, which means I should take classes, but by then I probably won’t be able to register. If I can’t take classes, then I won’t be doing anything productive with my summer, and if I waste my summer, then I won’t get into med school, and if I don’t get into med school then my life is over.”
This fatalistic attitude towards our work and future is one that every Bowdoin student has experienced at one point or another. After all, this is the type of determination which got us into Bowdoin in the first place. While that attitude is admirable in terms of work ethic, it is not helpful in many other ways and is a generally unhealthy way to look at life. It is good to plan ahead, but when planning destroys any sense of spontaneity it puts an intense amount of pressure on every aspect of day-to-day life. This sort of cataclysmic worldview eliminates much of the possibility for fun, life-changing alternatives.
I couldn’t help but wonder after I heard this statement: what if you do fail biology and can’t do your research? What if you get a job that you never thought you would have and you realize it is fantastic? Maybe it will change what you want to do with your life and eventually you will be happier for it. Sometimes life is defined by the unexpected or unintended moments. Highly motivated people tend to overlook these experiences because they don’t fit into the narrow expectations which we set for ourselves. In my admittedly small amount of experience, few things work out just the way I plan. But without the flexibility and open-mindedness to take things in stride, I’m stuck on a disastrous course towards destruction where one mistake ends my chances at happiness.
In the midst of all this stress it’s easy to take this viewpoint. Events like last week’s, National Stress Out Week and Ivies are in many ways beneficial for students as they encourage us to abandon harmful attitudes and to remember that some of the best events in life are the unplanned ones.
Photo credit:
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