Packing in general is extremely stressful and unenjoyable, but packing for college? It's the worst. It's one thing at the beginning of the year, when you have to move literally everything into a tiny space and try to fit it all in one car. Although packing for second semester isn't as bad load-wise, it's about 836,249,751 times more unenjoyable because now you have to repack all of your clothes and shoes and whatever else you brought with you, plus anything you gained over break. Also, you know you'll have to climb three flights of stairs when you get back to school, multiple times just to get all of your crap up there — thanks a lot for that one, Salisbury. There's also zero motivation because you're still in denial about going back to school and leaving your bed (which you know can't fit in your suitcase), your animals, and whatever else you hold most dear. So in order to relate to all the people out there who hate packing, here's all the feelings we've felt shown through the five stages of grief — but in packing form.
1. Denial.
You kind of just stand there, facing your suitcase staring. Eventually you shake your head and say, "I can not do this right now." Even though once you start it'll only take less than an hour, there's no way you can handle this right now.
2. Anger.
When staring at your suitcase and finally realizing it's now or never, you start to get like the mad emoji, the red one, and curse to yourself, "Ugh I can't believe I have to do this sh*t right now." If anything, you're mad at yourself because you waited until the last minute to pack.
3. Bargaining.
You then turn to any family or friends around you and ask them to do it for you. If it's a sibling they might reply with a, "Why don't you do it yourself you lazy sack?" or if it's a parent it's "Oh, I'm sure if you start now you can finish in 30 minutes!" Maybe if you whine a little more they might cave. . .
4. Depression.![]()
Sometimes sitting in a ball in the dark is the best way to get through things, such as avoiding your responsibilities.
5. Acceptance.
In the end, it has to get done. So you sulk as you walk up the stairs to quit avoiding your responsibilities and do it as quickly as possible so you can go back to doing literally anything other than packing.
