Week five is upon us, and for sophomores, it marks the ultimate halfway point in our Dartmouth career. It is the middle of the middle of the four years we have here in Hanover — and, as a result, a natural time to check in.
It’s been said that “how you spend your days, you spend your life,” and the ways that we spend our time have changed tremendously over the last two years. We’ve come a long way from our freshman fall, and the more time that passes between us and the days of N-95s in Novack Cafe, the more that our entrance to the College feels like a fever dream. In the absence of classes, clubs and First-Year Trips, most members of the Class of 2024 remember the first College-sanctioned event as a vigil for their classmates. In contrast to this period of draconian COVID-19 policy, our daily lives are now back to the usual rush of classes, clubs and social engagements, and the almost permanent lingering cloud of loneliness — that lack of social connectedness — is hard to imagine.
In this issue of Mirror, we look at time and how we are prone to spend it. For some, summer marks the perfect occasion to complete the popular Ledyard Challenge, and one writer looks into the history of the challenge, along with the little known story of a student who did not survive the swim. For others, jumping in isn’t about swimming but about trying new — and scary — things, as one writer reflects on his experience joining a summer dance troupe. Changing the way that we schedule our time can also sometimes come from an unexpected external force, and in our last story, one writer shares her experience being diagnosed with a chronic condition and how it forced her to cut back on her time commitments.
Although we can’t stop the flow of time, we can change how we spend the time that we do have. I hope this week’s Mirror provides perspective on how to make the most of the hours we do have, or at the very least, it helps ease the pressure of trying to do it all.
