I am sure every student must have heard this one anxiety kicking statement millions of times by elders, parents, employers that “student life is the best life”. Yes, now most of you agree on that unless you are not a student. But instead of saying it, just ask them “is it the best time of their life?” and you will get your answer.
Let’s experiment to validate what I am trying to say, after you are done reading this, just sit with a student especially someone who is about to graduate and ask them the question I mentioned above. They will pause for few seconds and probably will not tell you anything. Visually you will only able to see, is a confused expression on his or her face, Complete blankness, a confused deep breath and eyes lost in their own world. Now you must be wondering that have I asked a student or a patient with some sort of illness because honestly, the facial expression of a student and a patient is the same, it’s like asking an extremely ill person this question, “are you okay?”.
Students commonly deal with many issues that make simple joys of life like play, eat, and sleep challenging. Sleep deprivation, 8/10 students sleep less than 8 hours yet manage to function like robots in reality they are just waiting for the day to end so that they can sleep again.
Anxiety is a natural consequence of day-to-day stressful events, many students face anxiety throughout their day, although it can help them navigate difficult situations, however, it can turn out counterproductive and affect daily chores.
As students we are unwillingly pitted in a rat race, a race that requires you to win in terms of grades, once they have graduated then in terms of salary. No one is ready to realize that not everyone wants to win or compete, they just want to live and relax. However, society has created this pressure to compete or else they will fall and then there is no getting up.
Students are required to be masters of multi-tasking, they are constantly juggling with assignments, deadlines, hobbies, social life and if they have the energy or time then comes up my time. How exhausting is it to wake up every day, go to a place, and do something you don’t even like doing?
In a nutshell, a student is in limbo between what am I doing? and what will I do next? Let’s discuss why being a student is not easy. To begin with, students always have a bad reputation in the media, they are often linked up with no social responsibility, exploiting parents’ money and of course substance abuse.
Students face immense pressure from their parents’ teachers and most importantly the expectations society has created for them. They are often supposed to behave and act like a student every time. But who and what defines how a human is supposed to look like a student, who is going remind the world that students are human too and they too have a life to live and enjoy as they are giving their precious year in a process that almost shapes their future?
Some would say that the issues faced by the students are part of the process, they need this kind of stress to succeed in life and I agree. But what I am trying to say is that just because you are not a student now or never faced issues as a student, that does not mean students and their issues are not valid.
To all the students out there, Breath, you have time!
