If I am being completely honest, I forgot I was supposed to be writing this — whatever this turns out to be. And I guess I’m not really surprised. It is that time of the semester where everyone has about a billion and one things to do. A billion of which they probably don’t want to do and something is bound to be forgotten.
This act of forgetting has got me thinking about life and college and the human tendency to forget. Growing up, I would find myself looking for things to do to pass the time of being a little kid with nothing but time and space to fill. It was hard pressed for my mom to find enough activities to keep me busy.
And then I went to school. Days became waking up early, going to school to pass the time and space and coming home to pass the time and space before doing it all over again the next day. Schooling eventually became slightly more involved in middle school and high school. Homework became a thing and sports became more than just a hobby.
Before I knew it, I was looking for time and space as there was so much to do. Too much to do. And years later, in college, I can’t help but feel like this most weeks. Between class, work, preparing for class and trying to have a social life on top of it all, the lack of space can feel suffocating. Especially at the end of the semester.
College is a great opportunity to learn and grow, experience all the things and make all the choices about how you spend your time — minus those often tedious requirements that are not remotely related to your major.
We have all this time and space to fill with what we want. So we fill it with what we want (and sometimes with what we don’t want). So much so to the point that we sometimes find ourselves searching for extra time and space. So much so that it can be easy to forget the things we want to do — like writing this column you’re reading right now.
If we aren’t doing the things we want to do, then what are we doing? Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. It is so easy to get lost in identical days and neverending busy schedules that there is no telling just how much is forgotten — how much is lost.
And to me that seems kind of sad. It is one thing to forget the things we never wanted to remember in the first place, but what do we have when we can’t remember the things we want to remember? What use is this sound mind and time and space.
There is nothing wrong with being busy, and these seasons do not last forever. Thank goodness. But when we are done with the exams, the essays and all the things we do not want to do, I hope you have all the time and space to do as you please. And try not to turn the things you like into the things you don’t want to do simply because you are so busy you can’t remember that you like them.
Okay, I am tired and still have an essay to write before the night is done. I wish you all the best in finishing out the semester. It is okay if you procrastinate and it is okay if you don’t do as good as you would like and it is okay if you are sick of school and the cold — just don’t forget anything you want to remember. Forgetting is overrated.
