Life has gotten so busy, and college is one of many demanding commitments. Maintaining and navigating these responsibilities should come with some grace and understanding because eventually exhaustion catches up.
There is always something that needs to get done, somewhere to be or some responsibility waiting. It never stops. Rest becomes this thing that gets put off but, eventually we all succumb to exhaustion.
Yet too often there is such fear of being seen as lazy or irresponsible that sleep starts to feel like something we have to justify. The human need for sleep should not automatically be treated as some lack of commitment.
Why is it that the idea of rest becomes something that’s allowed to be put off until everything else is taken care of when there was a time that nap time was the main event?
LBCC provides education around self-care by providing workshops, resources, yoga and even a quiet room where people can go rest when they need to get some sleep.
Free yoga sessions, mental health workshops and quiet rooms are all helpful and offer a benefit to peoples wellbeing, but only to those who have the time to participate in them.
But when you are running on two hours of sleep and every minute of every day is already accounted for, trying to find the time to use these resources can feel like more tasks to fit in.
Setting aside time to rest would make those resources more accessible to students who otherwise have to rush to their next responsibility or don’t even have the time to use them at all.
Quinnipiac University in Connecticut on its Mount Carmel Campus has what it calls Common Hour every Tuesday and Thursday from 12:30-1:45 p.m. where no classes are scheduled and students are free to participate in school activities or go relax if that’s what they need.
LBCC does a great job encouraging self-care and providing resources to help but, with a blocked out time students would be able to actually practice the self-care that they are encouraged to prioritize.
While responsibilities matter, asking for grace should also include some reflection and a game plan moving forward to get back to good standing. But exhaustion deserves consideration when it walks alongside undeniable efforts to keep up in the first place.
Nap time once meant someone made sure there was time to stop and recharge, but now there are workshops telling adults to do the same thing yet when is that supposed to happen?
If rest is important enough to teach, it should be important enough to make room for.
