The coming of Friday afternoons in college can be inversely related with the amount of work that actually gets done. Friday means the end of the week, so students just want to kick back and forget about their work until Saturday (or Sunday) afternoon.
Being able to find the motivation and energy to push through the end-of-week exhaustion is something that takes great inner strength and self-control (your futon/TV is calling!), but a good number of students sacrifice a night out for the sake of studying, and preventing crippling hangovers.
“I don’t stay in every Friday night, but when I do I mostly do it so I don’t wake up feeling sick,” said David Secor, a junior at the College of William and Mary. “I’ll usually do it when I know I have a particularly busy week coming up and I just want to stay clear-headed, or occasionally if I’m just too burnt out from the week and I just want to have a relaxing night.”
Even if a chill Friday night means staying up late, watching a movie and stuffing your face with food one would only consider eating drunk, sleeping in and waking up without a nasty headache can do wonders for the productivity of your day.
Students are a lot more willing to work out, get that nagging assignment done, or even get ahead on a few assignments for the upcoming week. However, resisting the temptation of a potentially insane night on or off campus does have its perks.
“Having a boyfriend at another school helps, but I just tell myself that staying in will make me feel so much better in the morning as opposed to my friends,” said Amber Barnes, a sophomore at the University of Notre Dame. ”In the moment I feel so boring, but the next day I feel great and I don’t regret my decision, even after hearing all of the shenanigans that happened. Plus I can make the most of the weekends I do go out.”
There will always be more weekends to go out and get crazy with your friends, but going to college means academics have to be the first priority. If sacrificing one Friday night means that you’ll have a relatively stress-free week ahead of you, then let that be your reason.
By choosing your weekends wisely, you’ll know how to make the most of them without spreading yourself too thin.
Image: Stuff at School
