I read a statistic somewhere once that claimed today's average high school student suffers from as much stress as the average psychiatric patient in the 1950s.
Considering how things run around on the Internet, I have my doubts about the verity of this statement; however, it did get me thinking about today's typical American lifestyle and the importance of rest.
When I think about college alone, the people around me--my friends, colleagues and classmates--are some of the busiest people I have ever seen. They're in class 18 hours a week. They spend hours in labs doing research. They work one, two, even three jobs sometimes. They belong to multiple organizations and clubs. In short, they are amazing people--we are all amazing people--but we have no free time at all.
I used to believe that maybe this was a college phenomenon.\0x2028I thought to myself, "Surely when I graduate, things will calm down a little. After all, I won't have classes and labs and homework and studying to worry about anymore. I'll get up and go to work every day, and other than that, the rest of my time will be mine to do whatever I want with."
But America doesn't think like that-- at least, not anymore.
Maybe there was a simpler time once, when--as the statistic suggests-- an even moderate degree of stress sent the average adult running to a doctor. But stress seems to be a way of life these days.
We live in a workaholic culture. We are pressured to be constantly moving. Gone are the days of attending our 9-5 jobs and leaving the work behind at the end of the day; most adults I know work 8-6 or 7-7, and when they come home in the evenings, they bring anything they didn't finish home with them.
It's not any better for kids either. When I was in high school, I was in class eight hours a day, I worked a part-time job, I was involved in three or four campus and community organizations, I took music lessons and I came home and did my homework every night--and I was by no means an outlier at my school.
It's like I said. Stress is a normal state of mind. Being impossibly busy is a normal way of life. We live in a super-productive society--but, I am often convinced, a less happy one.
A person with time for everyone and everything but himself is not a healthy person.
I'm no psychologist, but I can tell you firsthand that working non-stop all the time and never taking any opportunity to sit down, relax, and cater to yourself a little results in bitterness, anxiety, and inevitably exhaustion.
It strains our relationships with the people we love. It reduces the quality of our work.
And so, as I said before, I am here to advocate the importance of rest. In a society that waits for no one, it is crucial that we wait for ourselves every now and then.
Skip that class just once and sleep in. Call in sick to work. Take a mental health day; turn off every electronic device you own, and go off the grid for a few hours.
I promise, when all the rigors of everyday life begin to catch up with you, you will thank yourself.
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