Saying No in College
6 a.m. strikes and your alarm blares. Groan. You drag yourself out of bed and begin your day. Your sleepy mind begins to turn.
Work, class, work out, go to the library鈥� Oh, and find time to eat at some point.
Flash forward to 2 a.m. when you finally fall back into bed, dreading that 6 a.m.
alarm. You didn鈥檛 even finish everything you needed to do.
College is full of responsibilities; it truly is a whole new way of living. Coming from high school, it can be quite a challenge to adapt. As you look around campus with bright eyes, it鈥檚 easy to get in over your head and commit to everything you possibly can. Clubs? Sure! Intramurals? Of course! Getting a job on campus? Duh, a little extra cash!
Unfortunately, there are only 24 hours in a day. You might come to that harsh realization after not studying for that one 鈥渆asy鈥� class or skipping one too many meals. While the typical college kid experience is full of stress and staying up through the exhausting hours of the night, it doesn鈥檛 have to be that way.
鈥淒on鈥檛 say maybe if you want to say no鈥� is a quote I鈥檝e been trying to engrain in my mind. I鈥檝e always been the 鈥測es girl,鈥� so you can imagine why this two-letter word is the hardest concept for me to grasp. I want to say yes to everyone. I want everyone to be happy. Deep down, I want to be the reason everyone is happy. It doesn鈥檛 always work like that. It hardly ever works like that.
In college, time management and proper boundaries require you to say no to things. If you study, you probably can鈥檛 go eat dinner with your friends. If you have a test, you might have to skip the gym or a club meeting. If your friend keeps nagging you to help with their homework but you already have plans, you might have to explain that now isn鈥檛 a good time.
It can feel weird鈥攁nd even slightly wrong鈥攖o say no to people. But it doesn鈥檛 mean you鈥檙e a bad person. It just means you can鈥檛 do everything for everyone. And that鈥檚 okay. No one expects you to be able to do everything and no one should. So don鈥檛 stress about all the responsibilities college throws at you. Prioritize, realize your abilities and skills, and work within healthy time-management boundaries. Learn when you need to say no, and say it. (It鈥檚 not as simple as it seems.)
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