We all can recall our first week in college. We were inundated with new faces and names, activities and programs. Every day there was something new to do or see; no two days were the same. This is a truth that most of us share: college is a new, exciting experience. It offers the chance to meet new people, make new memories, and grow into the person you’re meant to be. It gives you a space to learn, and this space can be truly reformative. However, college is also work.

We are all here to learn something, to get a degree and to take this information and apply it to the real world. We acquire different bits of knowledge in different ways. Maybe through conversations and relationships, but primarily we gain knowledge every day in our classes.

These classes come with work: assignments, essays, tests. We work day and night, through lunch breaks and dinners, studying for quizzes and writing essays. But let’s not forget extracurriculars. We join clubs and get research positions. We go to meetings and plan events. This becomes our new normal, and in that newfound sense of normality, college loses its allure. The fun we had at the beginning gets lost somewhere beneath a pile of seemingly endless obligations. The late-night hangouts every day turn into once-a-week lunch dates (if that). We’re always looking forward, looking ahead to the next thing. Be it another exam or another meeting or program, we hardwire our brains to think only in the future, neglecting to see our present as anything other than a stepping stone towards the next task.

And then one day it’s over. There are no more essays to write, no more tests to cram for. The lunch dates turn into goodbye brunches and the late-nights become nothing but a distant memory. You’ll look back on your four years at this university and you won’t remember the tests you took or the essays you wrote, but you’ll remember the things you forewent to study for them.

So here’s a bit of advice: slow down. We’re at the beginning of the semester, the beginning of the year. School isn’t going anywhere, you’ll always have work to do, and that’s okay. After all, that is what we’re here for. But we’re also here to learn about ourselves, to make friends, and lasting memories. Take breaks and be present. Otherwise, you’ll look back and wonder when next year became tomorrow.