Okay, so I lied. Living off-campus does eventually make it more difficult to convince yourself to come to class. I’m talking your typical end-of-the-semester stubbornness multiplied by innumerable other factors. The weather, the fact that the brakes on your car are struggling to make it through the onslaught of winter, the dog curled up on your bed keeping your feet warm– you name it, and it’s an excuse to just stay in bed.
With the end of the semester nigh, I keep thinking back to a conversation I had a few months ago with some friends. We were talking about school and other various mundanities when I, in my infinite naivete, whined something about this semester being particularly difficult.
“It’s not like I have that much more work to do, or am taking more classes than usual,” was my embittered conclusion.
“Well,” said my wizened friend who had already completed her years within the higher education system, “junior year is always the hardest.”
This remark puzzled me. As I had already stated, it wasn’t as though the workload was bigger or that there were more credit hours bogging down my schedule. Sure, I was holding down two jobs, but I had done that last year as well. What was the uncommon factor? What made junior year so much more challenging than freshman or sophomore year?
I began to peg through my own personal logic formula. Yes, I lived off campus now, but in all actuality, did that make a difference? There was more space for me to find somewhere quiet to work– or noisy, depending on my mood. I have a great roommate, unlike freshman year. What could the problem be?
Then I realized I was just denying the undeniable. I am a Grade-A, finely-tuned, permanent procrastinator. If I could look on from someone else’s point of view, watching me trying to get work done would be like watching a trainwreck. It’s time to face the facts: My study habits have finally caught up with me, just like my mother and high school teachers had always warned they would.
And no one likes accepting the fact that their mother was right.