Prioritizing mental health in college

When I first came to St. Joe’s, I was overwhelmed by the number of opportunities I had access to: 90 clubs and organizations; more than a dozen athletic teams; university-sponsored programming every day of the week.

There was no way I could ever do it all. A limited number of hours and the biological need for sleep prevent us from doing everything we want or need to do within the span of a day. But that doesn’t stop us from trying.

College is unfortunately a place where overworking yourself is something to brag about; where exhaustion isn’t a concern, but a marker of productivity. The ever-climbing cost of a college education requires some students to pick up a part-time job. Juggling employment, a demanding academic schedule, several extracurriculars (which may or may not include leadership positions), and a social life isn’t considered exceptional, but typical.

Assuming that a student taking the average St. Joe’s course load of five classes and spends the recommended six hours per week preparing for each class, that’s a total of 30 hours weekly spent solely on studying and completing assignments. Factoring in the roughly 12 hours spent in classrooms each week and an additional 10 hours on extracurricular commitments (many students probably devote far more time than this), as well as 15 hours at a part-time job, it’s understandable why many of us feel overwhelmed.

Of course it is important to master time management skills as we develop personally and professionally. A college environment is one of many places where we learn to manage all of the diverse areas of our lives at once, maybe devoting more of our mental energy to one area as personal circumstances demand.

While mastering this “balancing act” may be unavoidable, overscheduling ourselves at the expense of our mental health is not.

The academic culture at St. Joe’s does not make it easy for students to feel like they are doing “enough.” We take five classes each semester, while students at many other colleges are only required to take four. We are encouraged to get involved with as many activities as we are interested in, which ultimately backfires as we discover that we can’t possibly give enough of our passionate energy to everything that may deserve it.

Adjusting to the very involved community here at St. Joe’s was the biggest challenge for me coming in as a transfer student. I felt like everyone else had already found their “niche;” their corner of this incredibly passionate and active community.

What has helped me most in my journey as a St. Joe’s student is a simple but powerful mindset; my well-being comes first.

If getting enough sleep, having enough time to dedicate to a side project that I love or spending much-needed time with my favorite people means getting a C or even a D on a midterm, then so be it.

Nothing is more important than one’s well-being; not a GPA, not a résumé, not even a dream internship. It may not seem like it now as we spend every day in this tight-knit bubble of a campus, but we will likely have more opportunities than we know what to do with over the course of our lives. Those opportunities are not and and will never be dependent on your midterm grade in Philosophy 154.

The best advice anyone ever gave me regarding college was this: “skip the bullshit.” Very little of what we worry about during these four years actually matters. Narrowing my focus has helped my mental well-being more than I know.

So if you’re feeling overwhelmed, close out that Word document, turn off your phone, and do something you’ve been saying no to because you’re “too busy.” You are never too busy for your mental health.