There is a certain kind of “almost-success” culture Kenyon cultivates.
Sometimes, there is an indescribable buzz on this campus, an excitement that radiates from most all of students dreaming of the possibility of doing something big. I have described to my friends as “a culture of success.” Us students feel so close to success that we try to embody it in every way possible, almost as if solidifying our belief in ourselves. As I’ve discussed in an earlier article, people make an effort to look put together here. People excitedly whisper in Pierce that someone is releasing an album or publishing a book or acting in an actual movie* you can practically taste the eagerness. “I’ll be the next John Green, you wait and see!” And the college, admissions especially, feeds off this and encourages it with free John Green books and welcoming videos from Josh Radnor, and soon we find ourselves in a state of almost-ness, like we can so vividly see our aspirations realized, just an inch away from our fingertips.
*These are all factual, by the way.
So, people work hard here. I learned quickly I just shouldn’t ask how my classmates are faring because someone is always doing more work. People, from my experience, are driven and they work – hard. And I have to wonder as I talk to someone who is jiving off Redbull and no sleep, or as I watch my hall-mates turn off their lights at 3 AM day after day, or as I get 6 hours of sleep for the second week in a row, why we are doing this to ourselves? Why are we killing ourselves for this work, and when were any of us told that our health was low priority?
I have to wonder: maybe something that unites all of us sleepless, homework-overloaded students is our belief that our success, as every aspect of Kenyon life has taught us, is just right there. “Keep getting less and less sleep, keep doing whatever you have to do to stay awake and you’ll succeed,” Kenyon culture seems to croon.
And we listen. Kenyon is not for the faint-hearted, we reason, as we down our second cup of coffee.
While some professors do give extensions, most professors are less lenient. “Treat this as your job,” they, and our parents, advise. But what adult works a 9 AM to 2 AM job six days a week – besides, maybe, a CEO? Does anyone slave this much over work in the “real world”? And, if not, why then am I?
As I spoke with my academic advisor about this, she wondered aloud: “What would happen if everyone, students and faculty, committed to getting eight hours of sleep every night? A free pass on work if it meant getting your eight hours?
Would we be kinder to each other? To ourselves?
Would we smile at each other down Middle Path, rather than stare at the ground, or stare unemotionally ahead?
Would we be happier?”
Does that still matter to anyone? Because it does to me.
Image sources: Giphy.com, Kenyon.edu