Fall here at SXU leaves us no shortage of events and activities to enjoy. From homecoming week to a multitude of other festivities there are a million and one ways to have fun on this campus. At least I’m assuming there are, I haven’t bothered trying any.
Perhaps seven years of college has transformed me into a jaded cynic, but the only thought that campus activities conjure up in my mind is a resounding, “who cares?”
A recent TikTok popularized the phrase, “quiet quitting.” Which is when an employee decides that they will only perform tasks that their job requires of them. Nothing more, nothing less.
At this point of my academic career I find myself quiet quitting college life. With just over a year left until graduation, I’m happy to show up to class, and spend hours studying and doing homework, but when all that is said and done, I still have family obligations, I still have to work, and I still have to stay healthy, have some me time scheduled, and get a good night’s sleep.
With all that on my plate, the last thing I’d want to do is drive 10 miles to campus each way, and spend an hour forcing small talk with a person I will never see again in my life. I mean, have you seen the gas prices?
You may be thinking, “But what about creating memories of your college years?” To be honest, I’ve never really been that interested in “creating” memories.
I rarely ever attended school events at any point during my school years. And of all the positive memories I have of my school and college years, so few of them came out of planned events or forced interactions. Almost all came from spur of the moment decisions with friends.
I’ll happily make a midnight run to White Castle with my friends, or go for an early morning walk with them, or just drive around without a care in the world. (Maybe not now, when gas is $5 a gallon, but you get my point.)
These are the kinds of experiences that give me life. Sharing a meal with a loved one, sitting in a car or on a park bench telling each other jokes, debating our politics, having deep conversations about life, or just showing each other funny videos for hours on end.
To me, that’s so much better than getting an email invite, having to meet up at a specific time and place, having to lie to someone about whether or not I’ll be going, because I’m definitely not going.
Or what’s even more stressful, agreeing to go to an event because it sounded fun at the time, but then spending every moment up until then worrying about who’s gonna be there? How am I going to interact with people? What’ll I talk about? Am I gonna leave feeling happy and fulfilled or completely drained? Do I even want to go anymore?
This isn’t a knock on people who enjoy campus events. We all have different ideas of fun and we all want different things out of our social interactions.
That being said I will take spontaneity with a friend over planned fun with strangers every single time.
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