Balance: The Key We Forget

Last week, I learned of the resignation of a colleague and friend from his position with student government at one of our sister institutions. While I knew he had been having difficulty in that job, I would not have expected him to leave it midyear. His is the third such resignation of a student senate president among our seven system schools this year, for varying reasons, both personal and academic.

Having worked with and become friends with this man over the last couple of years, I know of his great passion for leadership. I also know that his choice to step down and change schools is for the right reasons. I hope that the change will make him happy and allow him to better enjoy the remainder of his college experience. When I see him in January as a newly minted Beaver, I hope I see a person with renewed energy and spark…the person we all knew before the madness of the top spot, combined with personal pressures none of us know, took their toll. Still, I’m saddened at the loss of another colleague.

In the last few days, I’ve thought a lot about this year, and the burnout that seems to be taking its toll on so many of my colleagues across the state. It is indicative of a larger problem…the burden that we, and our organizations, place on ourselves as student government leaders.

I have been heavily involved for almost four years. In that time, I have served in a variety of positions, often concurrently. I’ve spent crazy amounts of time in meetings and the office, and given up weekends for trips to conferences that have often become long and contentious. I’ve endured tough losses in a campaign for Vice President, one for President, and a third for a board seat with MSUSA. I’ve missed many classes, yet still managed to pull out mostly As, a fact that I’m proud of.

I’ve worked hard because I wanted to make a difference, but also because it’s what became expected of me as my position and longevity in the organizations increased. I happily did more, and will continue to. But, the fact remains that we expect ourselves and our colleagues to be super people. Right now, we have a State and Vice Chair working their asses off in the absence of an Exec Director…putting in long hours with little compensation, all while still trying to be students. This is not right, these burdens should not rest on their shoulders.

At times, it’s almost as if we expect ourselves to put our work first, and that’s the opposite of how it should be. After all, we are in college to be students first. Student government is a job…an often thankless one at that. And sadly, it’s a job many people will care little about once we all leave our respective universities.

The experiences are great. The people are usually great, and so are the life lessons to be learned. What’s not great is the pressure we bring upon ourselves. At the end of the day, this is a job…a person’s life should not revolve around it. It is a passion, not a life.

Too often, we get caught up in the politics of it all. I’ve heard of and seen so much infighting and personal bickering…it makes me ill. And too often, as I told a friend recently, student politics will chew you up and spit you out One thing I think we do well at BSU is we always leave the meeting as friends—what happens in North Conference stays in North Conference, so to speak…we can disagree there and still get along. And that should happen in all cases everywhere, but unfortunately it does not.

I’m lucky, I’ve found a degree of balance and contentment with my life and my role. It hasn’t been easy at times, and is an ongoing process, but absent a balance, it’s just not worth it. Balance is the key so many of us forget.