“I wanted to get involved in everything.”
Anyone who knows Eva Bedell, senior public relations major, can attest to the truth in that statement. From SGA to Greek Life to Student Life, Bedell has become something of a poster child for campus involvement. When freshmen arrive on campus and subsequently follow all of the Union-activites Instagram pages, the odds are good that they’ll stumble across a post about something Bedell has done.
Or, at least, that used to be the case.
Recently, Bedell has made some changes to her schedule. Read: she decided to say no to a few things. If you are wondering why, you are in good company. (The company is me. I also wondered why.)
In her own words: “I just needed a break. I can’t even remember everything I had said yes to. There was a point at the end of sophomore year where I was like, why am I doing this?”
To be honest, I was not terribly surprised to hear her say this. When you are involved in everything, it’s just not possible that you care about it all equally. In fact, you might not care at all about some of it. Certain people do seem built to have a busy schedule, but no one is built to feel suffocated. Even though she admittedly couldn’t remember her full list of past campus involvements, I was curious to know more.
“At your busiest, what did an average day’s schedule look like?”
She showed me a page of her planner from sophomore year. The days’ activities were color coordinated based on category. There were seven different colors. I could spot two breaks, each one 30 minutes long. Homework was reserved for an hour at the end of the day. At the very bottom of the page, scheduled for midnight, “SLEEP” was written in big letters. Things normally increase in value the more scarce they become.
“When I did have free time, I had no social energy or emotional energy for anyone or anything. I just wanted to lay in my bed,” Bedell said.
A word on Bedell’s life currently: If you are thinking that she became disillusioned with the busy pace that comes with being “involved on campus” and instead chose to disconnect entirely, you would be mistaken. Bedell is still involved and proudly so. Her outlook, though, has shifted.
“There’s a big push, when you get to college, to just get involved in everything,” Bedell said. “And I’m glad I did the things I did. But you have to ask, what are you truly interested in? What do you love doing? And are you just trying to find a space for things to fit in your life?”
Priorities are inherently exclusive. The moment you make something your top priority, you simultaneously relegate every other thing to some lesser position. In fact, to even call a thing important and worth your time implies that some things are not important to you, and are therefore not worth your time.
For Bedell, cutting down her schedule was a matter of spiritual and mental health. Though she is currently still very involved on campus, she has decided to only sign herself up for things she is truly passionate about. I ask if she currently feels more healthy and fulfilled than she did when her planner could boast a few more tasks.
“Yes, I definitely do.” She said with no hesitation. “After all, can you not do much more for the Kingdom when you just really devote yourself to one or two things instead of constantly running from meeting to meeting?”
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I’ve known Isaiah Campbell, senior marketing major, since freshman year. He is very similar to Bedell in many ways (they are engaged), but one way in which they are different is how they approach the idea of campus involvement. Campbell has never signed himself up for multiple clubs and organizations.
Quick author’s note: I hope your takeaway from this piece is not that some types of people are just naturally bent toward being more healthy or mature. Though very different, Bedell and Campbell both have rock solid motivations and intentions. No one has their college experience fine-tuned right away.
No one is immune to the freshmen year push to get involved in everything, so I asked Campbell how he handled it.
“There were things I wanted to feel that I thought I would feel if I held some type of office or position,” Campbell said. “But really I found out I could find that fulfillment just through time with friends and being intentional with my conversations.”
In some ways, I think this sentiment might be widely relatable. At the very least, it is to me. We were all made to live in community, which is part of why the concept of “campus involvement” exists in the first place.
“Because I didn’t commit myself to a bunch of clubs or anything, I’ve been able to be in the worship band at my church, which is something I really love and find actual fulfillment in,” Campbell said.
I could definitely see how something like serving at church would make it onto the list of priorities, but this had me curious. What else makes it onto the schedule?
“I asked Eva a minute ago about what her average day looks like; what about yours?”
“I have school, I have work, and I want to go to the gym. Outside of that I want to be spending time with people. I want people to know that I have time,” Campbell said.
Though their schedules manifest it in different ways, Bedell and Campbell are hoping to achieve the exact same things while in college. They want their time to make an impact for the Lord.
“At the end of the day, you should always have time for the Lord and you should always have time for yourself,” Campbell said.
Principles like these are easier said than done, but completely worth doing regardless.
I asked for a closing remark from each of them, and they gave me one in tandem (a true finish-each-other’s-sentences type moment, which was crazy to witness in person):
“If you’re pouring from an empty cup, there’s nothing to pour.”
Slay Toby!!!