No one told me in college how early you had to get up in the real world. 

In college, I could schedule my classes for 10:30, but that means, as a guy, I could get up at 10:20, race across campus and be in my seat before the chalk hit the blackboard.  I know, right? 

Now, on planet 9 to 5, say work begins at 9am.  Well, I really want to get some things accomplished before work—like showering, doing some light motivational reading, and to-do listing.  This puts the alarm at around 6am for a wake up time  {side note: I have arranged different alarm clock sounds on my iPhone based on the times I set them.  The earlier, the less peaceful.  I’ve reserved the 5am alarm for the one that sounds like a bomb is about explode in your bedroom if you don’t defuse it before going back to snooze.  I’ve found it gets the job done}.  This would be fine if; however, I wasn’t still trying to watch the same shows, go out with the same friends at the same time, and live the college lifestyle that I used to, which ended around 1am.  Thank God for OnDemand, or I wouldn’t know anything about this season of MadMen. 

This is one of those “I told you so,” moments our parents have been waiting to tell us about—and they’re right. We should have listened, but of course we knew better at the time.  Parts of growing up are amazing in that everything we wished for while tapping our pen on the desk and daydreaming out the lecture hall windows is now being actualized.  But with that comes the responsibility and pressure of everything in life that comes with it.

This life has become about making choices, and sacrificing certain luxuries we once took for granted.  It’s hard, and no professor ever tells you like it really is.  But eventually, once we find our footing and purpose, I have the faith that the good stuff in life starts to come alive.  So, I may have to forfeit the lifestyle I lived so easily and aimlessly in college, but I believe I’m giving it up for a much more meaningful existence.  Here’s to that.  And to no more mid-afternoon naps.

-Jason O’Toole

(Source: jasonotoole)