Move-in day freshman year, one of the last things I remember my father telling me was, “Don’t do anything stupid. Well, don’t be afraid to do something crazy … unless it’s really, really stupid.”
That’s some fine advice right there.
The majority of my favorite memories begin with, “it seemed like a good idea at the time.” As Spring Sing takes off, I am sure a lot of people are frazzled and at their wit’s end, just as I am sure quite a few love every second of it. Both, however, won’t soon forget their experience, because Spring Sing is the perfect example of what college should be more about – and not in the way you’re thinking.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that no one chooses to attend Oklahoma Christian University for Spring Sing. We attend an institution of higher learning and receive an education, more often than not, to make ourselves more marketable. This driven mentality pays dividends: We learn how to get results, we learn (hopefully) how to juggle our professional and private lives, all while earning the tools to succeed in our careers.
If we aren’t observant, however, we can miss something along the way – those opportunities that only pop up during this singularly unique time in our lives. Only in college are so many of our closest friends this geographically close with this much time to spare. Life doesn’t magically get slower or easier to manage once we leave college – we just get stronger and better at prioritizing. The majority of undergraduates don’t have to worry about a mortgage or muscling through tax season; it’s just not a part of our lives yet.
So do something crazy.
It can be little-crazy or big-crazy – have a movie night in a blanket fort, or scrounge up the money for a road trip to another state some weekend, even if all you have to eat is a jar of peanut butter. If you don’t know how, try ice-skating; see if you really can juggle being a full-time student with a job and Spring Sing practices.
I said Spring Sing is a perfect example because, logically, it’s an incredibly irresponsible decision for some of the participants. Hours of your life normally reserved for homework, work or sleep are spent learning how to fling your body around and sing at the same time in front of a crowd. In a year you’ll struggle to remember exactly how all the moves went – the altered versions of random songs will be half-stuck somewhere in the back of your mind; but in that moment, when the lights are on and your face is contorted in ways you didn’t know were physically possible, you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
So get work done. You or your parents are paying for an education, so don’t slack off and waste money – but don’t be afraid to do something crazy.
“Unless, of course, it’s really, really stupid.”
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