As the frigid winter air slowly begins mixing and dancing with the gentle, fragrant spring air, another semester continues to consume the busy minds of exhausted students. After only a month of new and demanding classes, the sleepy student brain yearns for an invigorating spring awakening to refresh its energy and replenish its motivation. Even though the temptation of a looming spring provides students with some degree of warmth and comfort, it can not, unfortunately, ward of the mind's relentless desire for sleep. Our arms and legs may not sting in the cold as we plod from class to class, but our minds grow colder as the days grow warmer. We feel the change in temperature and watch the days plow through the calendar until everything is an exhausted, hazy blur.
The temperature may fluctuate day to day or hour to hour, but the omnipotent ticking of the clock remains steady and consistent. Time keeps passing and the student brain keeps working. The student brain is on an entirely different timetable than the rest of the world because it operates on a deadline-to-deadline basis and is trained to believe that spring starts amidst January's icy conclusion. The student brain is smart and sees through this flawed logic. Just because it is referred to as the "spring semester" does not mean its commencement immediately launches the world into a warm and promising spring. We see this little bit of deceit, but we stow it deep in the back of our minds, if there is even any space left. We operate on a schedule that is anything but our own.
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The student brain is intelligent enough to solve tremendous problems and formulate compelling papers, yet it tricks itself nightly with the notion that it will actually receive adequate sleep. Even as the work piles up and the weather changes, the mind cannot be distracted by its desperate desire for rest. It's so terribly strange to consider all the things a student must do.
Academically, the student mind is tremendously strong and confident in its knowledge. But outside of the classroom, it sometimes falls short. It loses sleep over the stacks and stacks of academic work it must adhere to, and so it misses the splendor of the world outside the window. It does not get to embrace the gradual change in season. For the student mind, late January and early April may as well be the same, as both fall under the umbrella term "spring semester." Are we losing our seasons? Are we losing our own unique sense of reality because we are told what life is supposed to look and feel like? Are we dreaming? No, we are not dreaming. We are not dreaming because we are not sleeping!
