Welcome back to campus, Vols!
I had a great winter break and kept busy the whole time — just the way I like it. But in the perhaps not-so-wise words of Taylor Swift, I am indeed “married to the hustle,” and rest is simply not a word often found in my vocabulary.
I’ve done some soul searching lately: What is it about rest that irks me on the inside? My planner is literally organized by half hours, and last week I found myself done with my errands an entire hour early. I sat down to watch a show before my dinner plans, and when I stood up from the couch, I felt overwhelming guilt for wasting those 60 minutes.
During the semester, you can find me in the Beacon office any hour of the day, morning or night. I haunt the floors of Hodges in the fall, spend my lunch break studying on HSS lawn in the spring, and do my very best to use my apartment solely for sleeping.
Busy is the name of the game, and I’ll be damned if I don’t have the most pristine resume when I graduate. Every time someone brings up how the job market is these days, I breathe a sigh of relief because I know that I’ve done everything within my power to become hireable.
Is it worth it? The visions of Future Caden nod their heads yes. I could work myself into an early grave, and I’d probably think I’d made the right decision.
Is any of this striking a chord with you? For all of us workaholic guys and gals, why can’t we seem to find rest appealing?
January and the spring semester offer us a chance to reset. To write “chill” in our planners. To step back and examine what we’re really, truly getting out of our college experience.
My favorite memories are not the tears I’ve cried at my desk when a deadline falls through yet again. Nor are they the long trek back to my car from Hodges at 2 a.m. My favorite college memories are dinners with my dear friend Leah after a long week, a drive through the hills of Tennessee while listening to Michael Jackson and cheering on the Vols at any game, no matter the score.
Maybe rest is something I need to force myself to experience this semester. And while I pray that Taylor’s hustle will get me a decent job one day, I can’t forget the oh-so-wise words of Alabama:
“Oh, I rush and rush until life’s no fun … I’m in a hurry and don’t know why.”
I truly don’t know why I’m in such a frantic hurry to stack my resume, go to all the meetings and breeze through to the end of my junior year so quickly. This spring, I’m committing to guilt-free rest. Maybe you need to do the same?
Let’s have fun and get into the groove, Vols!
