Do you need the silence of the Tisch Library reading room to get any studying done? Or do you prefer to sit at Kindlevan Café, immersed in your work with background chatter as ambient noise? Or are you a homey person who likes the comfort and convenience of your own room? Essentially, do you need a quiet environment to think and work, or is your mind already so jumbled that distractions can’t lead you astray any more than your own thoughts can?
I have a problem -- whenever I have to study, it can take me up to half an hour to decide where I want to study. The green sofas at the SEC are pretty comfortable, but the tables would be too low if I needed to take notes. Space and seating in Tisch are flexible, but do I really want to study in an atmosphere so thick with stress you can almost breathe in midterm panic? Studying for me is such a cluttered, complicated task that usually involves two Chrome windows, each with a dozen open tabs, and some sort of phone app that doesn’t allow me to go on social media.
I procrastinate because my mind is a cluttered space. If you could envision my room with clothes strewn on a chair, dresser tops bearing everything from childhood trinkets to Tide pods -- that’s basically my mind. I’ll drop a thought and pick up another one like throwing my outfit on the floor to change into pajamas.
Unfortunately, a study in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin says that people who described their homes as more cluttered or unfinished than restorative usually had higher levels of cortisol -- a stress hormone -- and were more prone to fatigue and depressed moods. This correlation concerns me, because college is one of the most ripe times to develop high levels of stress, fatigue or emotional dysfunction, due to the intensity of pursuing a degree and the pressure of growing up. Maybe it’s finally time to, as I always say jokingly to friends, “get my life together.”
It’s scary because ... where do I even begin? An article from Business Insider reveals that some people are even afraid to declutter their space and their minds, because they associate that clutter with creativity and inspiration -- I fall into this group. I’ve grown so dependent on my ability to finish a 2-week project in an evening and to produce a mediocre product that it overshadows the times when I have not been able to complete a task just because I procrastinated.
Tufts, among many other universities, has a culture of competitive stress that can lead to students forming unhealthy habits and coping mechanisms. Some weekends when I don’t have much work to do, I’ll actually find myself worrying, because if I’m not stressed, maybe it’s because I’m not doing enough. Now, knowing how a disorganized lifestyle can lead to higher levels of stress, and knowing how stress can in turn lead to putting things off and reinforcing a cluttered mindset, I think it’s time to declutter -- to allow myself that 8 p.m. nap when I’m exhausted, clean up my room, organize class notes … and stay hydrated!
