Yes, we get our student loan and many of us don’t take life too seriously as we enjoy our final years without major responsibility. My aunt will often ask me how I do it; concert here, night out there… a little trip to Barcelona. But that was last year and the year before… this year I don’t even remember what a night out is! But there is a dark side behind all the fun you see on Snapchat and Instagram. We make it seem that we are living the dream but when we sit stop for five minutes and think about our future, or lack thereof, that’s when panic sets in.
University is a scary place filled with people who are supposed to be ‘grown ups’. Well, I can tell you the majority of us here are far from grownups and many of us don’t even know how to ‘adult’ yet.
After fourteen years of school where we were looked after by our parents, our teachers and all other staff at the school, we are now expected to make huge life changing decisions about what we want, where we want to go, and who we are. I can’t even decide what I want out of the Chinese on a Friday night.
In our fast-paced society are we asking too much of ourselves? Are we putting unnecessary pressures on ourselves? I think so. The pressures are there and too much is expected of us. I understand that our parents only want to see us succeed but does success come at the cost of our mental wellbeing?
Real statistics about Student life and Adulting
People say that pressure makes a diamond, well I’m sure many of us don’t feel shiny and new especially when you have five deadlines coming up to Christmas, a list of Christmas shopping to be done, a job to hold down and not to mention the private individual problems people are dealing with on top of this. We are the generation with the world in our hands, literally, information is so easy to access and it’s instant. Does that leave us expecting instant results ourselves?
Times are constantly changing, it’s not enough now to just get married and have kids, or just have a successful career, you are expected to have it all. But at 22 years of age that seems extremely unachievable. When you look at those who came before us, who have the family and the career, it looked so easy but in fact it’s one of the hardest things we go through in life. Many come to university for the experience, and what a great one it is… In first and second year but final year is something I personally (like many others) was not prepared for.
Sitting up until two in the morning to finish coursework is not something that benefits any one. It doesn’t benefit you, nor does it benefit your lecturer who must try to make sense of the mush you spent all night typing up. My advice is, spread things out and manage your time. (That’s easy for me to say, I haven’t even taken my own advice)
The pressures put on us are far too much, but there’s no point whining about it you just have to power through and get it done. So, take the extra time to look after yourself, have a bath, go for a walk because sitting at your laptop for two days straight with the same pyjamas on is not only unhygienic but its not a look many of us can pull off.
Relax students. We’ve got this.
Tierna Garvin is a final year student on the BSc in Communication Management & Public Relations at Ulster University. She can be found on Twitter: @MissTierna and on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tierna-garvin-bbb3a0143/