Dear Kid,

It’s the time of year when professors collaborate to inflict sleep deprivation on already sleep deprived college students. As I have mentioned (more than once), this may be nifty for sadistic professors but is lousy for students wishing to learn.

Here’s what happens. You have 30 hours of work to fit into a 10 hour time slot. You do as much as is humanly possible, then toddle your weary but awake self off to class for the next dose of knowledge.

But not so fast, my friend. Your brain is smarter than you are and goes off to sleep exactly 1.6 seconds into the lecture.

Huh?

‘Tis true, ‘tis true.

Parts of your brain (specifically the part in charge of not spilling coffee in your lap) stay awake. Other parts of your brain (specifically the parts in charge of problem solving and learning) take a nap.

What this means is that your lap and your brain both stay dry. It looks like you’re awake, but no one is home.

The solution? Sleep.

The reality? College isn’t designed to let you sleep toward the end of the semester.

The solution? Do the best you can. Realize that in three weeks there will be even fewer hours to sleep than there are now, so take advantage of shut-eye time when you can.

The reality? A short nap is better than nothing.

Love and happy napping, Mom

Dear Kid,

There are 525,600 minutes in a year (most of the time anyway). Some minutes seem longer than others, but we all get the same general allotment.

2013 has been a year full of change for you: turning 18 and being legal, graduating from high school, starting college, joining the crew team (I didn’t predict that one), finishing your first semester of OU (OU, Oh Yeah), and possibly several other things I don’t need to know about.

News flash: 2014 will be full of change too.

Not that I know of any particular event(s) waiting in the wings to pounce (my ESP is lousy), but college is a time full of new and interesting experiences. The world is generally full of change but somehow college intensifies the “changiness”. Or maybe it just compresses a lot of change into a short time. Or focuses the changes around you. Or all of the above.

You can’t necessarily predict the changes and you can only control some of the changes, but you can always control your reaction and response to change.

Many people will spend a great deal of time writing New Year’s Resolutions (crowded gym for the first few weeks of January anyone?). Resolutions are (imho) a fine thing, but crazy difficult to stick to for most of us. Maybe we should add to our list being able to face change with grace and kindness. Not that that one will be easy to stick to all the time, but it’s probably worth the effort.

My wish for you is that all the changes you encounter are (in some way, shape, or form) positive ones.

Happy almost 2014!

Love, Mom

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