On and Off Campus Blog: The “Do-It-All” Stigma
By: Quinn Reynolds ‘27
As BB&N Students, we have all experienced some form of the “do-it-all” stigma. It lurks in the back of the lunch table, at parties, in sidelong glances, and in the slight head shake of a parent when the T2 grading period comes around.
Sometimes we lie awake at 2 or 3 a.m. after we’ve complained all day of fatigue, and still cannot sleep. As teenagers, we think around 60,000 thoughts a day. I know that at least 25% belong in the ‘strive-for-an-impossible-standard’ category, which has the ‘well rounded student’ and the “what’d you get?” counterparts.
“How can I possibly get into x, y or z? Do I have enough extracurriculars? What will make me stick out more? Do I even want to go here, or do I want to say that I go here?” As students move through high school, the pressure of perfection escalates. We increasingly feel the demand to excel in every class and extracurricular in order to secure an acceptance into our chosen college. We race to secure leadership positions, fill volunteer slots, and maintain GPAs.
Students like us face an increasingly competitive application process, and the stakes seem to heighten each month. Our eyes droop each time a leadership application surfaces in the swarm of What’s Happening emails, thinking; I might as well. In pursuit of the perfect application, we stretch our lives thin.
The quantity over quantity mindset loops us in an endless cycle of achievements, rewards and time commitments, leaving us depleted and exhausted. We do not go out. And if we do, we spend two or three hours preparing for the lack of homework time. A night off might have a week of planning, causing the stereotypical spontaneity of teenage life to dwindle.
Peer-to-peer competition is no help in the internal battle of exhaustion versus time. The ever persistent “what’d you get?” is not out of a competitive nature; students are not typically trying to out-do one another. Instead, it is a way for us to measure our worth. Seeing that A on an English paper feels like: At least I can do one thing right. We feel safe in our grades; they provide a safety net, a concrete ledge for us to stand on while the whole world seems to fall apart around us every Monday morning.
Furthermore, we compare ourselves to those around us who always seem to be just a few steps ahead of us. We think, They are never rejected, or criticized, because how could they be? Unbeknownst to us, each one of us is that person for someone else. We are all the “do-it-all” students in each other’s minds.
Let’s be honest, that acceptance letter is a lottery ticket. You could very possibly win. But you could out-work, out-want, and out-do every single other 18-year-old and still not win the lottery. So, next Friday, or Saturday night, go do something. This time, you will have a stack of memories next to the growing pile of work on your desk when you get home.
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