I like to consider myself a fan of history and philosophy, so taking a course on ancient literature is right up my alley. I don’t even mind that we have to read 50 pages and complete a graded writing assignment before each class. In fact, I found myself buying personal copies of each book without commentary so that I could write my own in the margins. 

I’m sure some of you reading this are thinking, “Good for you, could not be me.” Well, that’s exactly what one of my classmates was thinking on the very first day of class. We had barely walked out of the room before a kid walking behind me rather loudly complained about how dumb the class was and wondered why they should be required to take something that had nothing to do with their career path. I didn’t know why at the time, but overhearing this really bothered me. Not necessarily because I disagreed but because I have thought this way, too. 

Of course, it was never my astronomy teacher’s fault. I didn’t like learning about the solar system. Nevertheless, I found myself getting more annoyed with each task I saw added to Blackboard. I know the kid in my English class and I are not the only people who felt that way. In fact, I’d say it is inevitable for college students to be frustrated by their classes. It is common for us to feel like we do not have time for the things that can’t go on a resume or look impressive on our transcripts. And though a bit of frustration at Fordham’s extraneous core curriculum may be reasonable, it got me thinking about how little time we put into the things we think will serve us no purpose and how much we miss out on because of it.

 We live in a world where everything is created to mold itself to fit our personal interests. After one Google search about new shoes, suddenly, all my Instagram ads are from my favorite brand of sneakers. Every few TikToks I scroll through, I’m faced with the question of what I like about it, and if I don’t like it, similar TikToks never pop up on my feed again. Before I watch a video on YouTube, I’m asked to answer a poll about my interests. The algorithm is our greatest friend and our greatest enemy. We are only shown what we want to see, and in turn, we avoid learning anything new.

I think it is this overly bearing attention to our interests that creates both anxiety with the unknown and the feeling of being rushed to pursue our end goals. In college, it is all about finding what you want to do and finding as many ways as possible to build up your resume so you get to do it. Every day, we have immense pressure from our surroundings to get where we need to go without really thinking about how we feel at the moment. There is fear in not feeling accomplished, and no matter what you do, it can feel like there is always someone out there doing more. No wonder we get so agitated about wasting our time on things like astronomy and ancient literature. 

The truth is, even though I’m not (and never will be) the biggest fan of astrophysics, I did gain something from that class. Creating yet another 100+ term Quizlet for an upcoming exam after bombing the previous one definitely gave me some resilience. And though I never truly grasped the concept of Earth’s electromagnetic field, I can always point out where Venus is in the night sky, and I enjoy the fact that I can do that. It may not seem like it at the moment, but taking a step back and giving your attention to the things you think you have no time for makes you better at overcoming challenges and being confident in how you focus your energy. Being able to say you accomplished something difficult can be fulfilling. Sometimes, it is less about the content and more about what you learn along the way. 

So, as we journey into this new semester and find ourselves stuck knee-deep in a five-page essay we would rather not write or struggling to muster up courage to go to that meeting we’ve been dreading, take this as motivation to dive headfirst into your challenges anyway. The time you take to try something new, no matter what it is, is not time wasted.