College Poetry: A Constant Debate Telling Yourself Not to Go to Bed Yet

What is it the crowded paths and piles of briefly skimmed books on our desks tell us about the new semester? Perhaps it suggests that it is off to a great start. Or, perhaps, it suggests that we are on track for doing better this semester than last. Whatever the case may be for you, I can tell you that there is always one person who you will hear mutter these seven letters: “I’m tired.”  

O’College. It is a beautiful thing. Do not get me wrong. It gives us, the students, an ability to expand our minds, to share ideas with faculty members, and even embark on the adventure of waking up at 8 o’clock in the morning after a night out. Yeah. We are in for a wild ride, let me tell you.

Luckily, we are just embarking on the end of our first month of the fall semester, which means, that we have not gotten to the test-heavy middle of the semester yet. (I say “yet” lightly.) But still, there are debates between friends casually walking along the sidewalk from their respective rooms that echo the same, dreary longing-ness for sleep.

Why is it, that there is the constant voice that nags you with the idea of falling asleep when your rational mind knows all that you have left to do? You tell yourself day after day, “I will read those 40 pages in that textbook tonight. I got it.” But then, that little voice returns. Back to kill your vibe and push you away from your future satisfied self. Why? Is it science? Is it psychology? I say it is plain human nature.

We are human and our archaic defense mechanism of resorting to relaxing had its purpose back in the day. It helped us reserve energy stores when our ancestors needed to push themselves to hunt and gather for food. To build a fire. To build a boat. The necessities were viewed as energy intensive; thus, our ancient ancestors would not even think of picking up a textbook.

However, times have changed. For the better I suppose. We do not need to build fires these days, for we have the technology to project one on the wall and still give off heat. Pretty cool, I must admit. Where were we? Right…sleep…No just kidding, work. Yes, we have to work!

Now ladies and gentlemen, now that you have reached the end of this short poem, I must bid you farewell. I do encourage you though to make yourself a cup of coffee (if you have not already done so) because you, my friend, have a lot to do before you can say goodnight. Let me be your voice of reason.  

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