In hockey, when a goalie is performing exceptionally well and making amazing save after amazing save, it is said that he is "standing on his head." This is to suggest that he is being so acrobatic in successfully defending against all the varying shots that are coming his way that he could still play his position well if he was in some way handicapped.
It is my belief that this term can be applied to college almost as well as it is to hockey.
Consider life to be an opposing hockey team and yourself the goalie. Life keeps coming at you from a multitude of angles with all kinds of different "shots": classes, homework, work, friends, family, and so on. It is your job as a goalie to "defend" against all these shots by somehow juggling them all and not let any of them slip through so that life is "beating you."
For many college students during the end of the year, life can seem to turn into a hockey all-star team.
Projects and papers, most of which have honestly probably been assigned for a good part of the semester, are "all of the sudden" due. Parents are increasingly curious about summer plans. Friends are eager to share that one final farewell night together before they take off forever into the real world. Then of course, there are always those pesky tests that tend to pop up during Finals Week. Not to mention sleeping and eating are still required during this period to maintain our basic metabolic functions.
All of this is expected of us, and that's all fine and good. If you step back and think about it, though, it really is a good deal of shots to take on in a small amount of time.
Yet, most of us manage.
Year after year, college students all over the world are able to make it through this onslaught of life's scoring opportunities and come out victorious on the other end of the academic year. It is really sort of beautiful when you think about it -- a whole segment of the population standing on its head.
This isn't to say that the shots stop or that college is the toughest time in everyone's life (word on the street is that things get a whole lot harder after college), but for many, this is the most they have ever had to deal with at one time. It is part of the growing process for sure, but as Kirk Cameron taught us all, with growing come growing pains.
What it is that keeps the average college student going is the promise of an end. There is light at the edge of every shadow. The light at the edge of the shadow we all call the end of the year is summer. Even if we have no real plans for the summer or summer for us involves just more school and work, it always seems to help ease those late-night pains when it all seems so impossible.
But summer isn't here yet, friends.
It's time to strap on those pads, hunker down and prepare for the deluge of tests, goodbyes and questions that are undoubtedly coming your way so you can come out like an all-world goalie: standing on your head.
Write to Cole at cpmcgrath@bsu.edu
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