We take advantage of a lot of things growing up, because we don't know any better (or worse, in this case). We go about our days figuring that what we're doing now will be of the same value when we do them later on in life. Boy were wrong. There are many, many things we took advantage of in high school that we wish we had time for in college.
1. Naps
In high school we would come home from school, drop our backpacks, crawl into bed and sleep until mom made dinner (or until we had practice for whatever we were doing at that time). In college we get home from class and either replace our school clothes with our work uniform, or we dump out the contents of our backpack and begin the journey that is called "studying."
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2. Sleep In General
In high school we considered five to six hours "no sleep" and eight to nine hours "sleeping in." In college we are lucky to get three hours of uninterrupted sleep before our alarm wakes us up for our 8:00 AM class (that we've probably overslept for more times than not).
3. Meals
Can you believe that when we were in high school they allowed us time during the day to eat and converse with our friends? Nowadays we eat when we have time. Whether that be on the walk to class, or in the car on the way to work. Beside that, we are lucky if we even have a few extra dollars to spare for food on campus, so we are probably eating leftovers from the mediocre dinner that we made the night before.
4. Family Time
In high school we spent hours upon hours with our families. We saw our parents when they got home from work, our siblings almost every hour of the day, and our grandparents on occasion. In college we're lucky if we even have the time to call our parents to let them know that our classes haven't killed us yet.
5. Good Friends
We had so many friends in high school that it was almost hard to name them all. When it came to your friends in high school you either hung out with your teammates, or with the people who annoyed you the least out of everyone. Some very genuine friendships can be formed in high school. There is just something about college, however, that makes friendships ten times more real than they were in high school. Probably because the people you meet in college have the same interests as you, the same problems as you, and the same alcohol tolerance as you.
6. Not Paying Bills
Sure there were a few of us who had to pay our portion of the phone bill in high school, but we never even blinked an eye at the amount of water or electricity we used until we had to pay for them ourselves. We now limit our showers to fifteen minutes, and deal with our apartments being 74 degrees, because we don't want our electric bill to spike.
7. Alone Time
In high school we were energizer bunnies. If there was an opportunity for a social gathering we were "so there." We would drive around on the back roads for hours just to avoid going home, and spend "early-dismissal" days running around town. In college we pray for five minutes of silence to just breathe and reflect on the day, and if we get out of class early the first thing we think of is sleep and food.
8. Easy Classes
In high school we would skip our easy classes and roam the halls of the school looking for some trouble to get into. In college we skip our easy classes to nap, study, or to have some alone time. It's a viscous cycle, isn't it?
If you are still taking advantage of any of the things listed above, channel your high school self and stop. If you had enough time in your day to read this article give yourself a pat on the back. If you opened the article, saw how long it was, and clicked the "x" at the top of the screen (you obviously aren't reading this, but) I understand. There is a lot more you could be doing with this small amount of downtime. Go get something to eat.
