Something's Gotta Give

Imagine this: it's about 5pm, you're just heading to grab a quick dinner before your night class, than you have a club sport practice, than Bible study, then a late night meeting for a club, then a paper to write, than a test to do some last minute cramming for.  This might not be the average student's everyday schedule, but most people will have nights where they feel like they're never going to be able to sleep again a couple of days a semester.  Or, if you managed to, as many students do, sign up for every activity that you've ever been interested in during the Student Involvement fair the first week of school, you might have nights like this several days a week.  (While reading this remember, sleep=amazing thing that keeps everyone healthy and happy.)

In general, if you have several nights or days a week that you absolutely dread, there is a really good chance that you've overcommitted yourself.  Most experts (i.e. professors or students) suggest that students, especially first-years, should become involved with ONE extra-curricular activity during their first semester that they feel like they could potentially stick with for four years. (Like under-graduate schools, graduate schools do like to see that students have managed to stay committed to an extra-curricular for all four years, which is a common reason for students to overcommit themselves.)  

So what do you do if you've already over-committed yourself?  One great option is to take advantage of the Trinity library.  It's probably the absolute best place on campus to guarantee that you will get work done.  There are a bunch of quiet corners, a good coffee place (which takes meal plan!) and, lets face it, if you're going to walk all the way to the library, you don't want to leave there before you get your work done.  Going to the library can help you ensure that you get all of your work out of the way before you start your nightly slog through all of your extra-curricular activities.

However, even with the help of the library, it can be possible to be too over-committed to function.  In these times, as the saying goes, something's gotta give.  If you aren't getting enough sleep, are really stressed out about not being able to give enough time to your commitments, or are worried about your schoolwork you should probably cut out an activity and maybe try to pick it up again when you have the time.  Quitting something is always tough but people at Trinity are usually very understanding and will probably better appreciate you being honest about not having enough time than you just not showing up for things all the time.