My brain is currently in a dichotomous state.

I’m a second semester senior, so I should be out partying and not giving two cents about my grades, right?

With a full course load at 18 credits (technically it should be 19, but I reduced the amount for one class so Mommy and Daddy Zaban don’t have to shell out more tuition), I have so many commitments on my plate. School, plus 3 jobs and a handful of student orgs, makes for a constant flux of chaos and cups of coffee.

Literally, I don’t have time to sit, play video games and do nothing. Okay, I take naps, but that’s because I can burn myself out often. Just look at a random week from last semester. Sadly, I enjoyed everything that was in here and did not regret any of these experiences.

Should I focus on my laziness than my involvement in student organizations, 3 jobs and a bucket full of classes? I’m being serious when I say this. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a type A neurotic person who always needs to be doing something. I literally cannot go 2 weeks without doing something. Sometimes, I’m envious of my roommates who can enjoy “moments of nothing” – simply kick back for long periods of time without getting the urge to go out and work.

For kicks and giggles, I went onto Google and entered the following searches:

• How to be lazy
• How to do nothing
• Addicted to education
• Addicted to leadership
• Addicted to involvement

With each of these searches, I failed to find a scholarly article that categorized my tendencies with others who simply cannot sit still without getting involved, learning or leading.

Then it hit me: could I the definition and picture perfect image of a workaholic?

With a quick browse on the all-knowing Wikipedia, I found a citation on workaholics that brought me to a Fast Company article about the health risks of being a workaholic.

The articles lead with this paragraph:

In Japan, workaholism is called karoshi — “death by overwork” — and it’s estimated to cause 1,000 deaths per year, nearly 5% of that country’s stroke and heart attack deaths in employees under age 60. In the Netherlands, it’s resulted in a new condition known as “leisure illness,” estimated to affect 3% of its entire population, according to one study. Workers actually get physically sick on weekends and vacations as they stop working and try, in vain, to relax. In a June 27, 2009 article in the Globe and Mail, Tarla Grant examined the issue of workaholics. She cites Statistics Canada which reported that 1/3 of Canadians considered themselves workaholics.

Going down the page, I got a crash course on what, according to author Ray Williams, a workaholic is. At the end, the article provided 5 tests to see if you’re considered a workaholic.

So I tested myself by answering the prompts.

Question 1: Compared to 5 years ago, work is a regular part of your evenings and weekends.

Kinda, but I was in high school 5 years ago. Also, college students don’t really have a standard schedule. Have you ever walked into a university library at 2am?

Question 2: You spend less time with family, friends, community and being engaged in regular activities such as exercise.

No. I’m with people all the time. But I do like to talk about school, advertising and technology A LOT. And I’m pulling the college card again for exercise – I try to work out when I don’t have 25,000 assignments or tests.

Question 3: You eat faster, talk faster, walk faster. You feel like you’re constantly trying to “catch up.”

Talking is a no, but eating and walking are yes. I’d have to admit that I’ll often chow down lunch or dinner so that I could make it to a meeting on time. And I’m always running like a crazy person from point A to point B. However, when I’m with my friends, I don’t think about walking fast or scarfing down food. Simply, I can relax when I’m with them.

Question 4: You’re developing skeletal and muscular problems because of the amount of time you spend sitting or standing, under stress.

No. Thank God.

Question 5: Your focus and concentration is not good, and your productivity is actually declining.

When you factor out procrastination by looking at blogs or Facebook, then I would have to say that I’m focused/have strong concentration.

Okay. Where the hell does this leave me?

I’m still confused.

Does anyone else have this issue, or am I just REALLY weird? Like someone who was programmed wrong and actually enjoys the stress that others constantly hate/dread.

Okay, I’ve been a very bad boy and have not posted on my blog for quite some time. Well, this past semester was quite time consuming (18 credits + multiple jobs).

I promise that I’m going to write  a few posts over my winter break.

I promise that I’m going to write  a few posts over my winter break.

I promise that I’m going to write  a few posts over my winter break.

I promise that I’m going to write  a few posts over my winter break.

A post from the Herzl Camp Alumni Blog:

We Are Camp People

Okay, I’ve come to a realization: once a camp person, always a camp person.

The other night, I spoke with a few friends about school and the pressures of classes. Somehow, our conversation went on a tangent and we all began to quote lines from Wet Hot American Summer, a movie about summer camp staff members in the 80s. Laughter filled the room and before I knew it, everyone’s stress melted away like snow in early March.

What’s interesting about this moment is that we were all, at some point in time, campers and staff members at DIFFERENT camps across the country. Even though we did not spend time together during our childhood summers, my friends and I bonded over the summer camp experience. We all had Friday night Shabbat dinners, brought a wide assortment of colored t-shirts and wacky clothes for special evening programs, and genuinely loved hanging out with our campers day in and out for multiple summers.

We are camp people.

Living in a world outside of Webster, I’ve brought this genuine passion for the “camp experience” to school. Whether I’m in a small journalism class talking about the implications of social media on advertising methodology or sitting in a student organization meeting with my MacBook in front of me as a write 17,000 daily emails, I’m taking the ruach I developed at camp and exerting it into my life on campus. To stay on top of my academics and leadership roles, I need to push myself beyond my limits and simply energize myself.

This past Friday was a moment where I had to ignite my energy to overcome my stress. After rushing home from a group project meeting for a mass communication course, I had 20 minutes to write a speech for Friday night Hillel services. In a sweat (literally, I was schvitzing from the run home), I thought on my feet and creating a speech about the week’s torah portion and how it related to my life. Then, out of the blue, my schtick-writing abilities came into full swing and I somehow managed to formulate a comparison between my weekly yoga classes and Jacob’s biblical journey through Charan.

Jogging over to the Hillel building in my Kenneth Cole shoes, I started to feel butterflies in my stomach. Would my speech actually go over well with students and parents (with my luck, I had to give a speech on Parent’s Weekend… but I digress) or would I sound like a complete food?

Luckily, being a camp person, I knew how to make something so silly into an influential speech. If I screamed my lungs out for over 10 weeks as a staff member and made campers ranging from elementary students to high schoolers listen to me, I certainly could woo over a few mothers with a speech.

The speech was a hit. Reactions from the parents in the crows literally paralleled the faces and expressions from my Tasters when I tried to act silly in front of the Chadar while I introduced a program.