A well-known theory states a student can only truly acquire two out of three things: a good social life, a good sleep schedule or good grades. The theory goes that you must sacrifice one of the three to excel with the other two. This idea begs the question of the best way to balance all the complex aspects of the college lifestyle.
Explanation of the Idea
The reason why this is said to occur is because there is not enough time in the day in order to manage all three. If you want to ace your upcoming exam on Wednesday and party on Thursday, you must devote time to studying and then going out, rather than catching up on rest. If you decide that you’re too tired to spend the night out then that potential fun is now scratched. Every day is a choice between these three things and which of them are most important to you in the current moment.
Good Sleep
Young adults love their sleep. It’s necessary to feel fueled and powered enough to survive our busy days on and off campus. Although, with all of the tasks we take on as students, it can be very difficult to ensure we are getting those eight hours. Sleep can even feel like a waste of time when there seems to be so much to do. It’s important to remember that decent rest is the foundation for everything. We will not be able to focus in class, do our assignments to the best of our ability or even want to spend time socially if we are not well rested enough.
Good Grades
Everyone wants to perform their best academically. It is extremely rewarding to receive an A back on that exam you studied so hard for and at the end of the day, we are here at Penn State to be students and receive an education. Although school is the basic reason why we are here, there is so much else that goes into making our everyday lives as students. Sometimes school, classes and our grades themselves can easily fall to the back burner. Or, if you do put an exorbitant amount of time into your actual grades, it can feel that school overtakes your life here and that there is no time for anything else fun. It’s easy to feel that if you are not working (and perhaps catching up on some sleep), then time is being wasted. Yes, school may be our original reason for coming to college but college is also a time to build a well rounded life for ourselves that includes a healthy balance of academics and all the other aspects as well.
Good Social Life
The parts of the college experience that can make it so memorable and fun are the social events. Everyone is a young twenty-something with the same goal: to go out and spend time with their friends. College is the only time in your life when all of your friends are rounded up into a little town designed for partying. There may be another phase in your life where you live with your best friends and are able to know that as soon as the weekend hits (or even before then), everyone will be ready to go have the time of their lives. The social aspect of college can definitely be amazing but it can easily become all consuming. It can be so hard to remain focused and with your eye on the prize when every thirsty Thursday seems to be a local holiday in State College. It may be easier said than done but it truly is so important to remain focused and understand that fun is called fun because it’s not something you do every day.
It can also feel like as much as you want to go out and blow off some steam, there is no time to do so because of all of your work and extracurriculars. VALLEY’s advice for this: designate one night out of the weekend, at least, to check out from the professional world and check into those memories that can only be made like this right now. The work-life balance needs to exist even for college students whose every day lives may feel like one long day of work.
Let us know your opinion on the “you can only have two rule” by tweeting us on X @valleymag!
