For today’s column, I decided to take a step away from my usual writing on Silent Sam, the Center for Civil Rights, Boycott UNC and other sociopolitical activism. Tuesday was World Mental Health Day, and I thought it be important to both highlight mental wellness but also apply it to myself and take a breather. I want to use this article to offer my thoughts on an important but often overlooked issue.
I’ve often heard the sentiments that UNC culture is resume-building. While I’m a huge advocate for professional development, this claim alludes to several issues. One could interpret its implications of empty leadership; this normally occurs when people occupy leadership positions without intention to execute duties for the mission that position is supposed to fill, but simply for another bullet point on their resume.
One could also interpret its implications of the competitive glorification of being busy, tired and overworked with the same end goal of more bullet points on a resume. These two interpretations are not mutually exclusive, nor do they provide the full range of reasons people feel the pressure to build a resume.
At UNC, one of the nation’s top public schools, it isn’t unexpected to find a cultural obsession with success.
I make no claim that the desire for success is anything bad. I do, however, strongly believe that the notion of success as directly tied to the length of someone’s resume, deprivation of sleep and lack of any personal or free time is highly flawed and detrimental to students’ mental wellness.
The pressure to succeed is extremely consuming. Some people know that their success isn’t just theirs; it may be tied to the family they have to provide for when they enter the workforce, college loans to pay off or the desire to make others proud. Some of us know we have to work twice as hard and be twice as good to reap the fruits of our labor and that is what drives an unhealthy obsession. Pressure can come from external sources we can’t control but oftentimes comes within.
This article is not written to say that we shouldn’t work hard but that we need to create a culture of analyzing success in relation to mental wellness. It is possible to develop professionally and be successful while also getting adequate sleep, engaging in activities that foster your happiness outside of academia and having time for loved ones. It is possible to be busy and happy because you enjoy what you do, but it takes introspection on which involvements are genuine interests and an honest analysis of your capacity to balance your involvements with school and personal time. We as students need to stop neglecting personal time and sleep within that analysis.
Don’t wait until your junior year of college to realize you gave up all your hobbies for stress and more stress (i.e. don’t be me — burnout is real).
Don’t underestimate the importance of things that contribute to your emotional and mental stability. Your mental health is important for you to succeed in anything.
