Leonard-Angelo Valenzuela
What does it take to be a successful college student these days? Is it going through countless hours of studying for a single class? Staying up late to finish some homework or a project and sleeping only a few hours just so you won’t pass out for your 8:30 am class? Perhaps you’re on scholarship and you need to keep up with the requirements to continue receiving it? All these things combined can make a person overstressed and feel like they are at the bottom of a giant pile of work. But if there is a fundamental question you should think about, it is this: “Is it all worth it?”
Education is essential to our daily lives; without it, we wouldn’t know anything about anything that should be worth knowing. I’m not going to go through the whole, “you can only get somewhere in life if you go to college” or “study your ass off so you don’t waste your time and money” quotes. School is important, but it should not turn your life into a stressful, depressing abyss followed by baggy eyes and antisocialism. What’s most important is to be happy.
Working with the Vector to help make it more successful, followed by copious amount of schoolwork, then a job to have something to eat every week, has made me miserable. I’ll admit I’m not one of the brightest kids on the block, but I am trying my hardest to keep up just so I can keep my position in the Vector and so I won’t have to graduate in six and a half years. When I finally came to realization that it’s just school and all of this will just be a once in a lifetime experience in my past, I felt relieved for some reason.
A friend once told me, “it isn’t the end of the world. It may seem like it to us overachievers who are so worried about going somewhere and becoming something, but it’s not, Lenny. It’s not worth it. What matters is happiness.” We live in a world ruled by paper, our future careers determined by five letters, and for those fortunate enough, a piece of paper that says we are capable of doing something. So I ask you again, is it all worth it? Is it worth going through all the troubles that college life gives us just to be labeled as “successful”?
The answer is yes (in my opinion of course).
If this is what it takes to be happy, do it. If this is what has to be done in order to move on in life, do it. If you don’t like it and are unhappy, you can always change. You don’t need to prove anything to anyone except yourself. Understand that being perfect is near impossible and that it’s okay to just get by with what you have. As long as you know that you are working to the best of your capabilities, that is enough to be happy. Don’t let the words and views of others change you just so you can fit in and be “successful”, but rather let it all in and find the strength to see what’s important.
