To the double major who takes 18 credits, runs four student organizations, and works three jobs, I ask: How do you do it? I know how I did it once: sleep deprivation, rushing about, ignoring exhaustion, yet never letting that forced smile fall from my face. It’s not worth it.
Our culture, especially at Hillsdale, holds exhaustion as a status symbol and productivity as a source of self-worth. The more “busy” and “tired” we claim to be, the more we seemingly admire each other, especially if we maintain a cheerful smile in the midst of the madness. And despite the merits of certain activities and the necessity of earning a living, juggling too many activities and jobs drains us more than it benefits us. It turns into busyness, even insanity, and we lose touch with our humanity.
Yes, we ought to pursue excellence in everything we do, but it is impossible to do everything and be excellent at it. As humans, we have limitations. Recognizing these limitations is healthy humility: honestly acknowledging our natural limits as humans. We need sleep. We need time to sit and reflect on what we are learning. We need time to develop meaningful relationships. We need authentic connection with others, which requires admitting our weaknesses, owning our imperfections, and being vulnerable. These are the things our bodies and souls need.
Human beings are complex creatures. We are physical, emotional, social, intellectual, and spiritual beings. We have undeniable needs in each of these areas. Too often, however, we cave to modernity’s message of productivity as self-worth and the covert pressures of Hillsdale campus culture in order to do what we believe is expected of us. We deprive ourselves of sleep, juggle too many commitments at once, and act like we are “fine” when we know we need to stop lying to ourselves (and others) and honestly talk to someone about what’s really going on.
I don’t know about you, but in my experience, I certainly do not feel happier when I am busier. I have found that I am more content, less anxious, and more at peace with myself and with others when my life has more time and space.
As Hillsdale students, we claim that we are learning what it means to be a human being and to live well. We can easily articulate the lofty ideals of a liberal arts education, but we say it as we rush off to the next meeting, the next work shift, or the next event.
When we live this way, we are not learning what it means to be human. Actually, we are ignoring and even denying our humanity. We are trying to be more than human. We become human doings rather than human beings.
Not only do our busy lives fail to exemplify the ideals of a liberal arts education, but more often than not, our busyness impedes our education. Our studies are reduced to mechanical actions of memorizing and regurgitating information in order to achieve a grade. We need time to reflect on what we are learning in classes, to let everything sink in, and to just “be.” Aristotle, Josef Pieper, and others have called these the characteristics of the contemplative life. A liberal arts education relies on this kind of contemplation. Without it, we cannot truly digest, or internalize, what we are learning.
Living a contemplative life, one in which we have time to reflect, wonder, and just “be,” is countercultural. It undermines our culture’s definition of success, and thus its formula for “happiness,” which says constantly being “productive” is the only way to make a good living and to maintain a good reputation.
Our culture’s view of a “successful” life, or Hillsdale’s unspoken yet expected perfect-role-model-student-leader life, isn’t the sole path to the good life or the key to happiness. In fact, it can be detrimental to a truly successful and happy life. It often defeats the purpose of a liberal arts education: to learn what it means to be human and to live, as Aristotle says, the “well-examined” life, which is the good life.
There is nothing inherently wrong with heavy course loads and many activities, but neither is anything wrong with only 13 credit hours and one or two activities. Though the latter option seems countercultural at Hillsdale, for many of us, it is probably better. As the adage goes, sometimes less is more. Doing less and being more open — not only time-wise, but also as people — are necessary keys to understanding and embracing our humanity, which is the purpose of a liberal arts education. We have the choice to live either the busy life or the good life, to gain either a degree or a liberal arts education — to either live as a human doing or learn to be a human being.
I choose the latter.
