Yesterday as I was walking down the hallway aimlessly during my two hour break, a new student approached me in Namm Hall and asked me to direct him to the Voorhees building. You can only imagine my demise thinking about how to instruct someone on the journey to Voorhees from the 6th floor in Namm! In my mind I thought, this poor soul has to walk those long blocks to the V-Building and has no idea what he’s getting himself into. At first I contemplated the best directions to give him so that he wouldn’t get lost. After a few seconds I realized there was no way I could direct him efficiently without the possibility of him getting lost, and on his first day at that.

My heart crumbled inside thinking that he would be lost in school, and it would be my fault. So I decided to walk down the stairs with him so that I could at least show him which direction to walk in. After exchanging our last few words, and me double checking that he was okay with the directions I gave him, we parted ways at the Main Entrance and I felt better that I helped him instead of brushing him off. It was at that moment I realized that I could be using my break between classes in a more efficient manner than just walking aimlessly until my next class. Instead of just chilling  I decided to put my free time to good use, even if that means giving someone directions to a specific part of the campus.

After that experience I walked back to the elevators in the Namm building so that I could proceed to my class on the tenth floor. While in the elevator I noticed that I had about a hour and a half of free time and I decided to use that time wisely. I walked down the hallway in search of an empty classroom to sit in, instead of having to sit on the floor in hallway. After a few minutes, to my surprise I found a room that wasn’t occupied,and then I got comfortable. I  used my break to start an assignment that was due for the following day. As time progressed, I noticed that in the same time span that I would have spent walking around bored during my break, I was getting work done that would benefit me in later parts of the day.

By the time class started I had already read a sufficient amount of my assigned literature for class, and I was able to move on with the rest of my assignment.  Once class was finished I left and made my way to meet my partner so that we could spend quality time together. Had I not completed my schoolwork during my break, I would’ve had to cut my date short and run home to do my work. However, since I took the initiative to manage my time in a way that would accommodate my personal needs, I was able to do my work and have fun at the same time.

My main point of sharing my experiences during the first day of class with you is to show you how easy it is to Stop Wasting Your Time! I know that it’s difficult to get back into the swing of things in the beginning of the semester. However, I promise you that learning to use your time wisely will benefit you greatly in the long run. All you have to do is buckle down and devote a certain amount of hours a day to your studies no matter how taxing it may be. Trust me I have days when I’d prefer to be watching Hero Academia, Empire, Power, This is Us or any of the various other shows that have held my interest seasons upon seasons. However, I have learned that the years we spend working hard in college will groom us for experiences in the outside world.

College is hard, but this semester and the semesters that follow will fly by, and you’ll be graduating sooner than you know it. So during this time, make school a major priority in life and don’t get distracted. Give Facebook, Snapchat, Youtube and Instagram a rest for a few hours, knock out your homework, and once you’ve completed your assignments go out and have some real fun. Balance your time so that you never miss an assignment, but you also have time to enjoy yourself. Just DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME, because once it’s gone you can never get it back.