So, I went home last weekend and I was having a conversation with my family about how school is going, the classes I'm enrolled in and also telling them that I have a pretty heavy workload this semester. As I'm explaining my classes and giving examples of the assignments I'm having to do, my uncle abruptly interrupts saying: "Jocey, you have it so much better than we had it growing up! Kids kill me nowadays thinking that they're stressed out, you haven't experienced stress until you have a family to take care of and bills to pay." Now, I'm not the type to disrespect my elders, especially members of my family but the things he was saying just really got under my skin. This type of thing always happens when I talk to him and a few of my other family members. It's like my stress isn't significant enough to talk about. I feel like if I'm stressing over school or feel like I have a lot on my plate, I have the right to feel that way. I don't understand how others fell as though they can judge how intense things are, especially for us as a younger generation that doesn't get the credit we deserve for how hard we work. Many people are quick to assume that because I am a part of this generation where technology advances have quickly taken over, that I don't know what it's like to work hard. My questions regarding this topic are: Do you feel that we as a generation have it way easier than the last? Do you think the work load for college has increased since then? Do we think about how bad other people may have it, or simply assume that no one is worse off than we are?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/education/27colleges.html?_r=0
Above I have attached an article I thought was pretty interesting. It's about college freshmen and their level of stress. I've never really taken the time to think about the things that we as freshman go through. There's leaving home for the first time to start a brand new chapter without all of your friends and family that you've been around for 17+ years. When you finally get to college some students take on responsibilities such as an SGA position, band, ROTC, etc. Making the transition somewhat more difficult being that then a trait of time management is even more essential. Do you think that college freshmen stress more than college sophomores or juniors? (I would add seniors, but I think their stress level regarding graduation is more than enough.)
It's much easier to criticize people than to try and take a walk in their shoes. If someone cuts you off mid-sentence, then they don't really care to hear what you have to say. Everyone has their hardships in life, that doesn't make people more special than anyone else. School is hard, it sucks, and nobody likes to do it. Push through all the negativity in the world and accomplish your dreams.
ReplyDeleteI do think we have it easier than past generations,however at the same time there still are difficult times for this new generations. For example, because of technology this generation is more progress in the sense of knowledge. With that being said the new generation is responsible to know more at an early age than the past generation.
ReplyDeleteOur generation is extremely hard even though the older generation will never admit it. School is stressful and just the fact that the elders has high expectation for us to succeed stress some people out trying to impress them. Even though we do have the advantage of technology, as we grow older technology gets newer. New technology comes with new ways of doing this that we are not used to and that alone stress some of our generation out. They shouldn't judge our generation without walking a mile in our shoes lol.
ReplyDeleteHonestly I find myself doing this to myself. For example my first semester of college was stressful. I was married, had my first kid on the way and had just relocated. But now on my second semester I look back and tell myself it was so much easier and less stressful but I feel like I can say that now because I made my way through it. Grownups do the same thing. They look at your situation and don't see it as stressful because they have been through it and made it.
ReplyDeleteI honestly think that when it comes to college your as stressed as you want to be no matter the classification, its all about how you manage your time. I am not saying go out and stick your head in a book all day, but you should spend most of your in your books. Then do what keeps you happy and stress levels low. For example, I write about the things that stress me the most and I work out. The main point when it comes to college and stress, you have to have a balance or you will lose your mind.
ReplyDeleteHonestly when you look at it as a whole, all stresses and situations are different. Unless someone has or is going through what you are going through then they can put their two cents in. Just because you have not had to yet deal with being an adult, does not take away the fact that you have stress in your life.
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