Why we need to stop normalizing that success equates extreme stress
By: Oliver Pulcher, Art & Life Editor
This weekend I will be attending the fall leadership conference for Phi Theta Kappa’s Missouri Region as President of Meramec’s chapter, Xi Lambda.
This is one of two fall conferences in total that I have been lucky enough to be invited to attend through positions I hold at Meramec.
Since I came to this school as a freshman one year ago, I have involved myself with many of the organizations on this campus. I really enjoy getting involved with various projects and seeing what other students are truly passionate about. It’s exhilarating being around people that you know will one day change the world.
That being said, have I occasionally overdone it with everything I have chosen to involve myself with? Yes, I have. It’s really easy to do that when you want to just keep pushing forward. And for about a semester and a half, I was fine with overdoing it all the time. I was fine with it because I love this campus and I want to give back what it has given me – progress and success.
But one incident made me realize that if I wanted to continue to be involved and still be a functioning human being at the end of the day, I had to balance all the work with self care.
One day last semester I woke up feeling utterly exhausted. I struggled to get out of bed and for about 20 minutes I laid there, wondering if I should even get up. I decided to get up. I rolled out of bed, went to stand, and I fell over. After that I crawled back into bed and proceeded to sleep the entire day. My body felt like it was burning up, and I was barely conscious most of the day. The next day I went to class and a friend who’s a nurse told me that what happened to me was total exhaustion.
Since that day, I have really attempted to do everything to keep myself healthy and functioning. The truth is that there seems to be this thought that if you are successful, you should be stressed, exhausted, and running on caffeine and dreams alone. This is a dangerous way to live, and as students we should be encouraging each other to do the opposite of these things.
I’m not perfect; in fact, I’m far from it, but the only way I have maintained my lifestyle for this long is by taking care of myself.
To avoid exhaustion, I safeguard my decompression time and my time for sleeping. After seven most nights I won’t answer any work emails, calls, or text messages, including those from the various clubs I’m involved in. And after 10:30 at night, if my homework isn’t done, the books are closed and the devices shut off.
To avoid crashing during the day I force myself to eat both breakfast and lunch. I also try my hardest to avoid overconsumption of caffeine and I drink plenty of water.
To take care of my mental health I see a therapist regularly. I recognize that the levels of stress I may deal with during any given week are enormous, and I also recognize that I have past issues with trauma and suicide that I need to deal with on a regular basis.
I also regularly go to the gym to help get my body moving.
These things won’t prevent everything, but if we all encourage each other to take care of ourselves, success will be a more healthy and attainable goal for us all.
