In Between All-or-Nothing
Throughout life, we often go through many changes and experiences that influence who we become- our growth you could say. It is known that some of our most moldable times in life are when we are in high school and college. This tends to be where we get more freedom and learn to be on our own, which is a great thing. But, in the last few years, our culture has become extremely “go go go.” And while it has at times proven to be very motivational for some, in recent years I have found that this mindset of “go go go,” has turned into “all or nothing.”
What I mean by this is, we are constantly surrounded by people that can have very polarizing interests and hobbies. This is normal and we always will be, no matter what age we are. An example of this “all or nothing” mindset can be seen a lot when talking about the party scene that many college students find themselves surrounded by. You either go out every night or you never leave your room. Another example of this would be if you don’t go to every class then you must be a failure. What about the in-between? Why have we seemed to have lost the gray area? And better yet, why do we continue to revert back to this way of thinking, even when we know there is a gray area?
When COVID-19 hit, it forced everyone to slow down. However, I feel that this is the reason why people tend to have this new mindset. When we were still in the height of the pandemic, new judgments and thoughts about what people were doing during the pandemic came about. I’m sure we all can attest to saying “I can’t believe ____ is out doing that right now with COVID being a huge thing still” or even getting upset because society was telling that it was our duty to stay home, which created an atmosphere of uneasiness for those who did decide to go out and do things. I believe that this is the start of the all or nothing mindset and it is now only getting worse with things seemingly getting back to “normal.” Now that we can all get back to doing things we used to do, many people feel that they need to make up for lost time. However, what is interesting to me is that we all got a year taken away from us- yet we act like it only happened to us individually and no one else. “I need to go out and do ____ because I don’t have much time left.” My response to that? You're gonna be fine. Take advantage of the things you have now because you are going to stress yourself out by trying to “do it all.”
Along with that, there are many new anxieties that come with this new mindset too. It’s so easy to get caught up in what everyone else is doing (or making it look like they are doing on social media). Yet it's not normal to constantly be doing tons of cool things. Yes, I too can make a romanticized clip of one day in my life but what was I really doing? Stressing to get the “perfect shot,” doing boring school work and watching Netflix while sitting with a box of Cheez-Itz stuffing my face. Sounds riveting. It’s important that we remember to take care of ourselves and if that means we can’t go to every event or on every trip then that is the way it is.
“Go go go” is turning into all or nothing and if you sleep in too late or can’t get yourself up one day because you’re human? Good luck chuck- looks like you’ve immediately fallen into being boring and must have nothing better to do. Sounds ridiculous right? So let’s bring back the in between- PLEASE. If I want to stay home one night and not go to a bar crawl? Okay, see you later...let me know if you need a ride home! If I want to come join in on the crazy night everyone’s having? So happy to see you all...believe it or not, I have in fact gone to a party before.
*Edited by Carly Herbert
