Going back to college can be exciting, but there is a huge problem with it; we have to pack. Pack to move into an apartment, dorm, or sorority and fraternity houses, and no matter how prepared you try or try not to be, we are never prepared, which is one of the most frustrating things in the world. My experience with packing for college has been the same within the past two years. Packing for college hits me in different phases:
Phase One: Being Excited to Pack
This phase is the best phase and normally the most productive, even though this phase is the most time-consuming because it normally lasts over a long period of time. For me it normally takes two weeks to go through this phase. I stroll around my room like a Disney princess neatly placing items in nicely labeled boxes, and I do the packing when it is convenient for me. I do not actually worry about being packed on time. In fact, during this stage I don't really worry about anything because I feel like I have all the time in the world, so I think of college as a far off place with most of the summer left to enjoy.
Phase Two: CRAP!!! College is Two Weeks Away!
Phase two is where the stress kicks in. We start thinking that even though college is two weeks away that we have to rush to pack. Our packing becomes a mess and out of hand. We throw random things into random mislabeled boxes that the Disney princess version of yourself worked so hard on in phase one. Phase two lasts about as long as you can stand the mess, which for most of us is not too long. Quickly, phase three follows.
Phase Three: What Have I Done?
You are dreading going through the giant mess that you have just caused. You secretly want to just cry in the corner and give up. The mess becomes super depressing and you just can't even deal with it. What do you do? You ignore it.
Phase Four: I Literally Am Done Packing! I Do Not Want to Do It! I Am Not Going to Do it!
Phase four includes convincing yourself that you do not need to pack, nor are you going to go to college. You find yourself in a Netflix hole and you decide you are going to stay in that Netflix hole because you do not want to worry about school. Ignoring everything is the name of the game.
Phase Five: O.C.D.
Or as I like to call it the repacking phase. Finally, we deal with the mess and repack, but repacking makes you O.C.D. Your packing gets even neater than phase one which is extremely unnecessary. It is so unnecessary that eventually you get fed up with yourself.
Phase Six: I Go to College in a Day. What Was I Thinking? Crap! Crap! Crap!
College is now two days away and you are nowhere close to where you should be, even though you have been packing for the past month. Now you have to get it done regardless of how much you want to put it off, and no matter how much you want to know where everything is when you unpack, you won't because of how much of a rush you are in. At this point you have no choice, so you just have to suck it up and pay for the consequences when you unpack. Hopefully you enjoy unpacking more than you do packing.
