Spend just five minutes on Northwestern’s campus, and I guarantee you’ll hear someone say they’re “busy.” We all expected that coming here, so nobody bats an eye. After all, we all knew the NU slogan “And is in our DNA,” when we applied here. The difficulty though, is what to do when too many of those “ands” stack up on one another. It begs the question: Is it OK to not be busy at NU? Or, if you’re not busy, are you falling behind?
On a campus where a packed schedule is a status symbol for many, these questions are at the forefront of Wildcats’ minds and demand answers. At NU, I’ve experienced some of the busiest periods of my entire life, but I’ve also had moments of solitude and stagnation where I wondered if I was doing enough. I vividly recall freshman fall when I arrived on campus and saw people joining business frats and a cappella groups, and as I watched NFL RedZone on my first Sunday here, I wondered if I was doing enough.
What freshman fall me didn’t understand was that it wasn’t about “doing enough.” Instead, it was about getting out there and meeting new people on a campus where all freshmen were just as unfamiliar with everyone and everything as I was.
I didn’t realize that trying out for clubs and taking as many eclectic classes as possible would’ve been the best way for me to make the most of my status as one of the newest Wildcats on campus. Because, at the end of the day, does a little bit of rejection therapy or a few awkward conversations hurt anyone?
So yes, it’s definitely important to be involved, but that doesn’t mean it’s important to always be busy. As NU students continue their academic journeys past freshman fall, they’re faced with the question of how to manage their time. You now have the choice of how you will distribute your time between activities, courses, internship searching, partying and more.
It all depends on what you value most. Maybe your major is easy for you, and you want to let your classes serve as background noise as you scour LinkedIn for an internship. Or, perhaps, you prefer an education primarily focused on stimulating academic discussions, and you think sacrificing that time for clubs, partying or internship-searching feels wrong.
No matter what the reasoning may be, it’s up to you to decide how much time you should dedicate to each of your commitments. If you don’t make that decision early, time will pass by, and before you know, you’ll just be a misaligned, confused upperclassman who either spread themself too thin or didn’t do enough.
One NU phenomenon I must address is the superiority culture around constantly being busy. It’s an undeniable fact that NU students take pride in their hectic schedules. And while there’s nothing wrong with having so much to do, it can come at the cost of true connection and valuable experience. If you have to leave every club meeting early or you can’t spend just 30 minutes talking to a friend with no phone or computer, you must remove something from your bottomless stack of tasks.
The cost of overcommitting cannot be overstated. Some of my loneliest moments at NU were in conversations and meals my peers treated like boxes to be checked on their daily schedule. If our time went past what Google Calendar had allotted, then the conversation had to end, even if it was nowhere near finished. Living this way is so draining and is the exact reason why so many people at NU experience burnout.
We all have the same 24 hours. You get to decide what to fill that time with. I think you should use it to follow whatever feeds you. Whether it’s the new friends you just made, a club you joined that just feels right or a really engaging class, whatever gives you purpose in life and keeps waking you up in the morning is what you should dedicate the most energy to.
With a campus culture of “And is in our DNA”, my final warning is to be wary of overcommitment. Embrace the true reason why you’re at NU in the first place: to learn and grow.
DJ Harrison is a Medill sophomore and author of “‘Cat Commentary.” He can be contacted at [email protected]. If you would like to respond publicly to this op-ed, send a Letter to the Editor to [email protected]. The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the views of all staff members of The Daily Northwestern.
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