After following this schedule multiple times, the results started to digress. This digression was shown not only in my academics but also my family life. At school, I began to notice that I wasn’t as focused in class, and it was harder to concentrate during tests. I was becoming forgetful. At home, I was sharp with my older brother, had no patience for my younger, and holed myself in my room everyday.
At first, I thought it was just from a lack of sleep. However, in reality, it was my entire schedule. Because of the time consuming activities I participated in during the week, I had decided early on that I would make up for the sleep I missed during the week on the weekend. This tactic, however, didn’t actually work. Because I was used to sleeping so little during the week, whenever I slept for more than that I messed with my sleep clock. Thus, every time I went from a few hours of sleep during the week to almost double the hours on the weekend, I felt more rested. However, when the new week began and I returned to the few hours of sleep, I was even more exhausted than before.
Most people have probably heard of Lightning McQueen, the famous racecar movie. At one point, my little brother had such an obsession for it that that was the only thing he would watch on television.
At the beginning of the movie, McQueen had just tied with two other famous racecars in the biggest race of the year, and was headed to a rematch race in which the winner would be decided. When his superior calls to congratulate McQueen on the way to the next race, the superior invites the racecar to a party stating that he is allowed to bring three friends. McQueen suddenly realizes that because of his self-involved personality, he has none. This realization leads to a change in the racer when McQueen falls out of his carrying truck late at night and finds himself in Radiator Springs, an old dying town because of a recently built highway bypass. There, he learns the value of taking one’s time while repaving the town’s only road, the importance of friendship that he finds in Mater, Sally, and eventually the whole village, and with these, McQueen breaks from his shell of self-centeredness. This compassion is ultimately depicted when, during the last lap of the tiebreaker race, McQueen stops to aid The King, an old racer who usually gets first place but crashed from being pushed by the third racer Chick Hicks. When the crowd gasps at McQueen’s action of losing the tiebreaker race and the trophy to save the dignity of the old racer, McQueen remembers the old words of a previous winner of the race, who he found in Radiator Springs, jokingly stating that it’s just an empty cup.
Like McQueen’s sudden realization of his self-centeredness, I eventually grasped the realization of my tiredness. McQueen was able to change this narcissism by changing the way he viewed life, taking things one step at a time, and recognizing the importance of the bonds he made with people. Like most students my age, I also needed to change my view on life. Instead of going blindly from class-to-class, project-to-project, and activity-to-activity, I need to slow down my activities. Better time management will lead to better sleep and more work productivity, along with more time to enjoy with my friends and family.
McQueen’s sudden change of view about the trophy being just an empty cup allowed him to actually enjoy the race and still remain happy after losing the biggest race of his life, because he had the relations to support him. Akin to this analogy, I realized that in order to change my schedule, I also had to understand that though every activity is important, it is also important to not lose oneself in the onslaught of daily life and to enjoy its little moments instead of remaining in the fast lane.
No comments:
Post a Comment