I’m so tired.
It’s April, it’s still snowing and I don’t know how to say no.
By the time the end of the spring semester rolls around, it feels like every club on campus realizes how much they’ve been slacking, and tries to fit a semester’s worth of programming into one month, and I always want to go support it all.
Not to mention my self-imposed pressure to succeed in each of my classes, never miss a club meeting or event and participate in an active social life as much as I can. FOMO is real, people.
There’s a common joke that students can only choose two of three things: good grades, a good social life and a good night’s sleep. But I would argue that there’s far more than three things to choose from: grades, social life, exercise, job, love life, calling your mom enough, extracurriculars, the list goes on.
Regardless, the one thing I always sacrifice is a good night’s sleep. Here I am writing this at 11 p.m. Wednesday night, with at least two hours of reading ahead of me, before having to wake up at 6:50 a.m. for registration. But, I digress.
According to a study from Stanford University, the average college student needs eight hours of sleep each night. When was the last time you sleep a solid eight hours of sleep? And no, last Saturday when you woke up at 2 p.m. still hungover doesn’t count.
Often times, women and people of other marginalized identities feel the urge to ‘do it all’ in order to be seen as successful, as worthy. It’s an age-old story: if a woman decides to be a stay-at-home mom, she’s ambitionless. If she focuses on her career, she’s heartless. So, often times she chooses to do both, and something has to give. I can attest that I feel the need to ‘do it all,’ or I won’t be seen for my full potential.
On top of that, we’re often subjected to providing emotional labor beyond our capacities. We’re forced to explain and justify our personhood on a daily basis in response to microaggressions. We can be stuck in toxic relationships in which we’re giving more energy than we’re receiving, and it’s draining.
As a student who’s also involved in activism, it can be even harder to say no to things on the grounds of a good night’s sleep. We’re told the world is ending, and there’s no better time than now to do something about it, rest be damned.
But here’s an idea: you don’t have to do it all. You can say no. And the world will keep spinning tomorrow. And the circles under your eyes will be just a little lighter.
We want to be seen and perform at our highest potential, but there’s no way we can do that without giving our bodies what they need to function. It’s important to protect your energy so you’re able to use it for things that really matter.
So tonight, do something radical, and get some rest.