By: Kwame Asamoah | Student Contributor
College often feels a great big balancing act: the never-ending homework assignments, readings, maintaining a social life and finding time and space to rest.
Going into semester eight, I definitely know some of the dos and don’ts for finding success. This short piece hopefully passes some of what I have learned on to you. I’ll call the piece: “glass balls and rubber balls.”
Life is like juggling balls: work, family, health, friends and spirit. Only one of them — work — is rubber, since it’s less fragile. The others are glass — they can be damaged or dropped.
In an adaptation of Brian Dyson’s speech during a Georgia Tech commencement ceremony, Dyson remarked, “Understand that and strive for balance.”
At a point during the fall semester, I was dropping a major glass ball — specifically, schoolwork. I walked into the office of a professor I know, and she mentioned the following quote from Nora Roberts.
“When juggling as much as you are, remember that some balls are glass, and some are rubber,” Roberts states. “Try not to drop the glass balls.”
If you are dropping too many glass balls, perhaps consider this: stop, take a deep breath and then take out a sheet of paper and ask yourself what glass balls you are dropping and what rubber balls you need to let go of. Maybe it’s time to talk to someone who can help you reset, like I needed last fall.
When asked the question — what would you want to tell freshman year you? — senior Joanna Vasudevan shared the following response.
“Whatever you are doing, give it your full attention and effort,” Vasudevan said. “When I worked in the clinic, I would be trying to get done with schoolwork that was due that evening. And then, when I had time to work on assignments, I would try to get things done for the clinic. When I was with friends, I’d be thinking of my next meeting, and when I was at work, I’d be worrying about not having enough time with friends. It’s easy to get stuck in that cycle of trying to catch up with yourself and experience as much as you can. But, when you realize you can’t physically be involved in that much, you will be able to commit your energy and time to the things that matter to you.”
What are the glass balls in your life right now? What rubber balls do you need to drop?
Whatever you’re holding right now, give it your full attention and effort, like Vasudevan suggests, and hopefully — come May — you’ll have learned a lesson in balancing and managing priorities well.
Good luck, wish you the absolute best this week. You got this!
Kwame Asamoah is a senior Biology major.
