At the expense of health

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This unhealthy, stubborn persistence belies a greater phenomenon here at Princeton — a desire to furiously assert our competence and push ourselves, even at the expense of our physical and mental health. We’re constantly encouraged to challenge ourselves, whether to stay up that extra hour — or two or three — to finish an assignment or sacrifice a few more afternoons to another extracurricular. When forced to make choices about allotting our limited time and effort, taking care of ourselves often falls by the wayside. But with Mental Health Awareness Week coming up and midterms looming, now is the time to address the way we view our health.

Mental health on this campus has already been discussed at length in these pages. Academic stress and the feeling of being overwhelmed are real and pervasive problems at Princeton. Just on Thursday, Tehila Wenger addressed these issues in her column “A case against commitment.” Wenger argues that students should trade one or two of their intense extracurricular commitments for more casual group activities; essentially, students should schedule time to hang out. I completely agree with Wenger’s argument, but the idea that students at Princeton need to be reminded to participate in activities we enjoy speaks volumes about campus culture. It enforces a mindset that is often associated with this University — that we only value what can be quantified or judged.

But even if it doesn’t receive a grade, our mental health does matter. And often, poor mental health can lead to very quantifiable effects — when we burn ourselves out, our physical health suffers. The competitive, fast-paced culture makes it convenient to believe that our bodies and immune systems can take as much strain as necessary. Even with our ability to plow through problem sets and decipher complex texts, Princeton students seem to have forgotten a lesson more important than those learned in class: taking care of ourselves. These things that should be obvious priorities in our lives — enjoyment and rest — are missing. And more importantly, no one is appropriately outraged by their absence.

There are University services that are excellent resources for treatment to help students cope with both mental and physical health problems. But we need to confront this larger issue at the source rather than wait to seek help once we are already stressed and sick. As a campus, we need to closely examine the ways in which we challenge ourselves. Yes, Princeton is a challenging place where students are expected to work hard. But not at the expense of our larger well-being. It often seems like the greatest taboo at this University is admitting defeat — dropping a class, quitting an extracurricular, deciding to turn in an assignment late. We have been challenged, and we have failed to succeed. But cutting ourselves a break isn’t defeat or failure. Neither is it laziness nor incompetence. It’s working toward a more complete education.

For better or worse, challenge and competition are integral to the Princeton culture. Students, faculty and administrators all expect that these four years are our time to prove ourselves and excel. For example, the student who came to my class sick last week might have been motivated to attend in fear of the work she would have missed or by how she thought the professor would have viewed her absence. But for every time you come to class sick to surmount an academic challenge, I challenge you to stay home instead. In college, we’re supposed to be learning skills that will carry us through our adult lives. But the work we do in classes is only one component of this education. We cannot only challenge ourselves to do well — we must also challenge ourselves to be well.

Sarah Schwartz is a freshman from Silver Spring, Md. She can be reached at seschwar@princeton.