I’m getting worried because I think I’ve developed a sickness to which there is no known cure. What is this sickness you ask? Why can’t a doctor help me? Because this sickness is a little thing commonly known as Senioritis.
With no documented definition of the term, I feel compelled to create my own, and you will be forced to accept it as such.
Senioritis: a state into which one falls in their senior year where said person gets extremely lazy and distracted and does not feel like doing even the simplest of tasks.
I’ve always thought Senioritis crept up on people near the end of their senior year when graduation was in sight. But apparently that’s not always the case – and I’m proof.
After three years of hard work I find myself in a rut. It’s the simple things that I’ve done day after day that keep yelling “Chrissy, you know you need to do this… but do you really want to? No… go watch t.v.!”
I’m already procrastinating like this and it’s only the second week of school. In fact, I waited until the very last minute to even write this column.
Hopefully this is only due to the fact that summer is a lazy time as well and having to get up all of a sudden every day for morning classes interrupts my sleeping patterns. This does not put me in the best mood.
Sleep is a precious commodity, and I’m sure if Senioritis was ever classified as an official disease, sleep would be one of the recommended treatments (along with lots of hours in front of the t.v., hanging out with friends, going out and possibly chocolate… ok, so maybe not chocolate).
Like most seniors, I’m sure, I’m really just looking to enjoy my last year at La Verne and have fun with my friends. And do well in school of course. But with Senioritis school gets put on the back burner.
I mean who wants to worry about tests, reading assignments, papers and (gasp!) senior project (that evil monster)? Even after all that there’s grad school and the “real world” where you can so easily get lost.
Maybe I’m just worried that graduation is only eight months away and I have no idea what I will be doing in the days that follow. Maybe subconsciously I believe that if I put things off that day will never come. Oh wait, that is the case because if I put things off I won’t be able to graduate.
So then comes the pressure that I have to get things done and in the process the perfectionist that I try to be comes out. And then stress sets in. And no one enjoys stress.
Stress only increases the severity of Senioritis. And I fear I’m teetering close to the edge as it is.
To tell you the truth, with my somewhat busy schedule I’m feeling the stress right now.
Although I’m not sure if it’s actually stress.
I’ve got a lot to do, but there seems to be enough time in the day to get things accomplished when I actually get around to it.
I think I feel like I should be more stressed than I really am. Upon reflection, I’m beginning to think there’s hope for me yet.
Hopefully my rambling is not scaring anyone. It’s really not a horrible sickness to have.
Who knows, I could get over it any day now… or it could be weeks or months. At least I know for sure it will be gone after graduation.
So this is my warning to my fellow seniors. Watch out for this disease. I’m thinking it may be contagious.
Chrissy Zehrbach, a senior journalism major, is editor in chief of the Campus Times. She can be reached by e-mail at sqweet@aol.com.
