Many studies have suggested that we might do a lot better individually and collectively if we were only more patient. If we weighed payoffs with logic rather than emotion, we could start thinking of choices as long-term investments.
When used cautiously, these words can aid our speech: Without them, we’d sound robotic. But there’s a sweet spot we should try to land on. While drowning in fillers, we can’t expect to be articulate.
The world is very different now compared to how it used to be 100,000 years ago. But some human trials have stood the test of time: through the years, we’ve struggled with confronting our mortality. One way we try to cope with that is by leaving a piece of ourselves behind.
Time is escaping us Duke students faster than we even realize. As fast-growing adults, we should try to slow this experience down. We should pull our eyes away from the next break, the finish line, and focus on what’s around us.
Learning a little about everything is beneficial to us both in college and later in our careers. At the undergraduate level, it should be highly encouraged. Duke isn’t helping.
We tend to take for granted the things that we receive for free — when we should really be appreciating them more, because they are free.
Few of us have kept up the daily 30 minutes of independent reading since middle school. And no wonder. There’s no surefire way of letting go of the habit of reading than forcibly plowing through a book you don’t like.
Perhaps, we need something simpler: the permission to take a break.
By freeing up that mental space, we can go on learning “more important things” like physics and philosophy. But at the same time, there is an associated cost. We are losing independence.
In a school as industry-driven as Duke, it is surprising how little we students appreciate certain life skills that are invaluable to our future careers. Writing is one of them.
