Have you ever felt so stressed that you just don’t know where to go or what to do anymore? Have you ever felt like everything is crashing down on you and you can’t handle the weight anymore? For most college students, this is an everyday occurrence. As a student that works on campus in one of the busiest buildings on campus, I get the chance to watch students in everyday life. It seems like it doesn’t matter what time of day it is or what day of the week, stress is like this thick blanket laid across the hearts of every student on campus.

I used to be one of those students. Working 40 hours a week so that I could afford to go to college and so that I could afford food and gas to travel back and forth, plus taking 18 credit hours worth of classes, and trying to juggle friends and family. It didn’t work for me. And it won’t work for you. As a senior in college, I look back over the past three years and all I wish that I had done was take more time for me. Because let’s get real people, stress may literally kill us.

At the beginning of this semester, I realized that for the past three years, I did not make time for me to have fun and make friends. I had made a couple of really good friends and some acquaintances but I didn’t go and actually spend time with them like I wanted to. I was always working, always studying, and before I transferred to where I am now, driving two hours a day back and forth to school. I HATED IT. And because of everything, my grades suffered, my emotions suffered, and I became a different person.

Now, you may be asking “why is he writing a biography of his last three years as a student?”. Here is your answer. To tell you to close the textbook, and spend some time with your friends. Responsibly, of course. I’m not telling you to go out and never do your homework, cut class, and fail every course you take. I am telling you that for one or two hours a day, just go outside and look at the trees, the squirrels, the birds. Spend time with your friends. Make new friends. Do things that relieve stress. Because again, stress can and will kill you.

While it is only the second week of the semester, over the past two weeks I have seen a huge change in what I want in life and how I want to spend this semester. I have made numerous friends, actually chilled out and relaxed, and made time for me. To top it off, I’m also enjoying school and doing well in my classes. Yes, I spend time with friends, sometimes going to Walmart late at night, going out to the lake, staying up grilling outside my apartment. However, I also work and do my homework.

So don’t ignore your classes completely and whatever you do DO NOT SKIP YOUR CLASSES! YOU WILL HATE YOURSELF FOR IT LATER! But make time for you, make time to spend with your friends. Make time to just find yourself. Close the textbook before it kills you. Because I promise you, one day it will.