We may or may not have been cyborgs in high school. We somehow managed to attend every meeting for each club even vaguely related to our interests, won awards for sports and woke up chipper at the ungodly hour of 6 a.m. We didn’t have to sacrifice anything, because for some reason, everything was possible. It all fit snugly into the 24-hour day, with time in between for snacks and naps.
Things are different now. Dartmouth students, ourselves included, constantly battle to squeeze an hour’s worth of activities into each minute on campus. We want to get straight As, run table at every frat and then come home at 6 p.m. to watch Netflix in bed and fall asleep before the moon comes up. But Dartmouth has given our high school selves a reality check — here, everyone needs to make sacrifices.
Personally, we’ve never been consistent with what to give up. We’ve let up on academics during big weekends and on the nights when our friends really needed us. We’ve spent our Saturday nights with textbooks and blankets instead of a fracket when the midterms piled too high. And we’ve certainly had our share of late nights and early mornings.
Yes, we all make sacrifices to get by at Dartmouth. But we can also decide what we should prioritize. Giving things up is always difficult, but Dartmouth has taught us that it can feel good to throw caution to the wind and just choose what will make us happiest. If that means spending Friday night in a Snuggie, so be it.
