Word count: 568
Summary: Never over-work yourself when you study, it bad for your health
I couldn’t avert my eyes from the lecturer at the front of the room; it was like I was worried that if I dared to look away for a few seconds, I would miss something vital that could only be heard if I maintained eye-contact. My eyes tracked that lecturer like a laser-beam, pin-pointing what she was going to do next. It was just me and her playing a game of table tennis back and forth back and forth.
“And just as a reminder...”
What was she reminding us about? What had I forgotten??
“...I would like to inform all of you that your end-of-term essays are due on the twenty-fifth of May; don’t leave them until the last week.”
Shit...
“That’s all.”
The once-quiet lecture hall had become overwhelmed with the noise of students eager to flee the room.
The twenty-fifth of May...that was just under two months away and I had barely started researching the first of three essays. I hadn’t even chosen a question for one of them yet! I wondered how everyone else appeared to be so carefree; why I appeared to be the only one panicking.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll reserve a space in the First club for you.” Doug always tried to make me feel better, even though it didn’t tend to help. “You’ve never gotten below a First, apart from that one time you were 2% away last--”
“We don’t talk about that.”
“You know what I’ve learned since I started getting better grades?”
“What?” My voice trailed up from the ground where I was zipping up my backpack.
“You need to work hard...”
No shit.
“...But you also need to mellow out once in a while. You can’t overwork your brain, it’s really bad for you.”
“I’m getting the grades, that’s all I care about.”
Doug grabbed my shoulders and sat me back down as I was about to make my way to the door.
“What are you--!”
“Seriously, listen to me.” He put his hands on either side of my desk and looked down at me seriously. “You find it hard to sleep, especially during the essay period, right? You can’t concentrate for a while when you study, and you make careless mistakes that you never fail to bring up when I ask how the essays are going, yeah?”
I sighed.
“It’s not good for you, you’re sacrificing your mental health.”
“...You’re saying I’m mental?”
He flicked my forehead.
“Hey!”
“I’m saying that you need to chill out before you burn out. Take regular breaks, and don’t be this stressed two whole months before the deadline. Get it?”
I looked at my folder on the desk that was plastered with sticky notes between the pages and filled to the brim with notes, worksheets, and seminar exercises.
“You’ll raise your grade and you’ll be in a better mental state, you’ll be able to study a lot better if you take time out to rest.”
I intentionally kept silent for several seconds before speaking up. “If this doesn’t work...”
“Then I’ll walk into Cassie’s room naked, rose between my teeth, and confess my undying love.”
“Alright,” I said through a smile.
“Good. Now,” he motioned for me to stand up, “let’s put our stuff down and go for a drink. That girl you like is probably there already.”
“Whatever, I just think she’s nice.”
“Sure,” he winked, “’nice’."
No comments:
Post a Comment