I have a need for speed. I drive fast; I walk fast; and I live fast. But due to one too many traffic tickets, I have been forced to slow down-while driving at least.
This made the drive back to Duke after Fall Break a bit slower, but it also opened my eyes to a simple truth. As I was being passed by car after car, I realized that most people in our world live life in the fast lane. And I would be willing to wager that college students-especially students at schools as strenuous as Duke-are some of the biggest perpetrators of this speedy phenomenon.
In general, Dukies are over-achievers. It's in our nature. We are the kids who have been doing community service since middle school-or even elementary school. We are those who did not leave our high schools until long after dinner time most nights. We are the ones who participated in a sport every season. And, perhaps most relevant now, we are the students who have carried our over-achieving tendencies through college and will most likely practice them for the rest of our lives.
We clearly don't do much to put on the brakes in our lives, and as a consequence, we turn into competition junkies-we can't get enough of being the best.
At the same time, however, our environment does not exactly help reduce our over-achieving, too-busy, ridiculously overcommitted patterns.
By about halfway through the first semester of our freshman year, the system of curving has become second nature to us. But what does a "curve" even mean? Put simply, it means that we are judged not on how we perform individually but rather, on how we perform in comparison to the rest of the class. We are no longer striving to reach a set level but merely to be "better" than the person sitting next to us.
We girls in particular do this in many aspects of our lives. Take dating, for example. Girls see a guy we think is attractive, and we instantly start sizing up all of the female competition in the room.
Or think about the number of times you have stayed on the treadmill for a few extra minutes so that you didn't get off before the girl next to you.
This is our dilemma-we are a generation of students who have a natural tendency to over-commit ourselves, and we are placed in an environment that breeds over-commitment.
But what do we do about it? Do we stop making commitments? Of course not. Because then we would no longer be competitive in this race of life that we are all running.
Perhaps we just need to make fewer commitments. A good friend and mentor of mine observed last week, "Sarah, I learned the hard way that when you take on too much you just end up sucking at it all." Maybe we should pick one cause-or at least a smaller number of causes-to dedicate our time to. Maybe we should each do ourselves a favor and gather our multicolored assortments of mock Livestrong bracelets supporting every cause under the sun and throw them into a bag. Then we should pick out one or two. These are the causes that will dominate our lives.
Presto, instant lack of over-commitment!
Now, I realize that a drastic measure such as the bracelet grab might be over the top, but there has to be some sort of solution. Sure, some amount of stress can make us work harder, but the amount of stress we succumb to daily takes a toll on our bodies. According to data gathered by the Healthy Devils peer education programs, stress and sleep are two of the most common issues affecting the health, well-being and academic success of Duke students. These two concerns are both ones that we can change ourselves, and yet, we rarely do. It's illogical, this self-infection of pressure and exhaustion. If the flu were something that we had the choice to infect ourselves with, I highly doubt that any of us would do it. Who in his right mind would purposely harm himself?
Oh, wait. We all do it. Every day.
The bottom line is that there is no easy solution to the over-commitment dilemma. We are passionate people who want to indulge in all of our diverse interests. How do you choose between tutoring elementary school kids and visiting patients at the Duke hospital? Or between double-majoring and a research internship?
Maybe you don't have to choose. Maybe you have time to fit it all in. But the likelihood is that you don't, despite what you think. Take a step back, consider your stresses and remember that, in the end, we have an obligation to commit ourselves to our health and sanity.
Not to mention the obligation we have to set aside time for a breather. After all, we need to relax.
I, for one, am far from ready to give up anything that I love, so perhaps my recent insight will take time to work into my life. But then again, the next time I see people tossing a Frisbee on the quad on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, instead of heading to the treadmill to compete with my sweaty neighbors, I bet I will be much more apt to stop and take time to play.
Sarah Hostetter is a Trinity sophomore. Her column runs every other Thursday.
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