Article October 31, 2005 Issue

TAKE THE CRUNCH OUT OF TIME

By Lesley Hollinger

Finals were approaching. Papers were due. Projects were culminating. The end of the semester had arrived. The heavy burden of what seemed like an impossible workload bore down on my shoulders. I scurried about each day, barely remembering to smile, so obsessed with my "to do" list. Meetings, deadlines, homework, studying—it all seemed too much for me to handle.

I used to think of this crunch time of the semester as a rite of passage, a necessary evil that every college student has to endure. I even spoke of my busy hectic life as if it were an award. "You wouldn't believe how much work I have to do tonight!" I would exclaim. Or, "I stayed up until 3 a.m. getting that paper done!"

Inevitably, however, I would crack under the pressure. Usually a week or so before finals, I would experience a mental meltdown, so fatigued and stressed that I would collapse onto my bed and sob. After a few semesters of this, I happened to experience a breaking point in the company of a good friend. His advice was clear and simple. "You know," he said, "You don't have to go through this." What he said was based on the fact that he was a practicing Christian Scientist, and so was I; yet, for some reason, I had never come to his conclusion before. I had always assumed that stress and procrastination were all part of the college package, and I certainly couldn't escape that. Yet obviously, something had to change.