Written by Ysabella Yao

It’s three in the morning.

It’s three in the morning, and instead of indulging yourself in some much-needed sleep in the comforts of your own bed, you are seated in front of a mountain-high pile of academic work to be done–a situation you have found yourself stuck in for the last few weeks (or probably even for the whole semester). This is a situation that has become part of your routine, whether you choose to deny this unfortunate reality or not.

You stretch and lean back in an attempt to relieve your back of the pain and soreness that your sedentary sitting position has caused, but it seems futile. You wonder if laying your head on a pillow and allowing your eyes to rest for even just a few minutes will alleviate the weariness that settles in your entire being, but you soon realize that no amount of stretching or physical exertion can take away the fact that you are tired and in dire need of a break from the Herculean tasks you need to face.

You yawn for the nth time tonight and your eyelids struggle not to give in to the temptations of sweet slumber. You try to fight off any thoughts of caving in to the luxury that is a decent amount of sleep, as you carry on with checking off every item on your mental to-do list. It feels as if you’ve been awake for days on end (though it would not be a surprise if you really might have been awake for a few days straight already), and among the very few things that drive you to stay awake amidst these tiresome nights is the comforting thought that these will soon come to a momentary pause. You, as a way to fend off another wave of lethargy, find solace in the thought that you will be free of academics in a few weeks’ time.

You grab your midnight snack or drink of choice—whether that be a sodium-rich bag of chips or an energy-charged serving of caffeine—and you begin to multitask as you continue with your work. This is yet another situation you find yourself in lately, and as much as it feels that multitasking in the wee hours of the night has become a personal habit, you still cannot relinquish the thought that all this has completely turned you into the living embodiment of sleep deprivation. You cannot help but think to yourself, “Ayoko na, pagod na ako.”

You may think that it seems selfish and too self-centered to feel tired when so many other youth are not even given the opportunities to avail of a good education (and a par excellence UP education, no less), but quite honestly, you have all the right in the world to admit that you are tired and stressed. Okay lang mapagod, friend. Being vocal with what you truly feel and allowing yourself to feel tired and stressed does not make you any less worthy of being a student, and neither does this make you a whiny and inconsiderate person. Being honest enough to admit that you feel all these things does not make you weak or incapable—it only proves that you are human; that you are human enough to have limits.

Whether you are struggling to reach that single-space, minimum-three page requirement for your Comm I or II paper, you are rewriting your notes in preparation for that make or break exam in one of your GEs, you are finalizing your PowerPoint presentation for that crucial report, or you are mustering all the strength you have just to finish and submit that thesis requirement on time—remember that you are not alone, and that you need not go through these alone. You should not feel burdened by the seemingly overwhelming amount of responsibilities you have to face because you have the ability to finish them and reach that deadly deadline; you have the ability to accomplish your tasks if you learn to put a little more trust and belief in yourself.

When you feel like you just want to leave everything as it is, don’t. Now is not the time to give up and wave the white flag; not when there are so much more opportunities for you to succeed than to fail. Remember the age-old adage “try and try until you succeed”? You have encountered this saying countless of times which is why people tend to dismiss it easily, but think about it. Why quit when you can keep trying? Why give up when you know yourself that you can succeed in the end? The first step in overcoming hell week is to tell yourself that you are bound to succeed in the end, and believing in yourself is already one step to accomplishing your tasks.

When you feel the weight of all your responsibilities pushing you down, remember why you have them in the first place. This load of responsibilities, however daunting and seemingly unending, only point to the reality that you have so much potential. You have these tasks for a reason. Whether you choose to believe this or not, you have all these responsibilities because you have the capacity to overcome them. That is why you’re in UP in the first place; the mere fact that you study in the country’s premier state university is a testament to the fact that you have the skills needed to cope with UP’s highly-competitive environment, meet its rigorous academic expectations, and survive its notorious hell weeks.

And speaking of Hell Week, it is not going to last for eternity. Despite how long and winding this period may be, it will eventually come to an end. There’s a reason it’s called “Hell Week.” You will eventually have the change to get more than eight hours of sleep and you will no longer have to dread facing reviewers or blank Word documents—just be a little more patient.

And when you begin to think that being an OrCom major seems too stressful, remember why you started. Remember why you’re taking up Organizational Communication in the first place. It does not matter if you got here by choice or by destiny, because there is something in you that makes you a great communicator. Somewhere deep inside you, there is a person who has the ability to use his or her written and oral communication skills not just to express himself or herself, but to be of utmost service to the very people who pay for your education: the masses.

There is a greater purpose to being in OrCom than merely being a communication enthusiast. There is more to your ability than being able to compose technically-flawless papers or to deliver highly-convincing speeches. In the long run—in whatever field you choose to pursue—you will become an agent for change. Through your skills and your innate power to communicate and express yourself, you will be a game changer—a catalyst for progress.

Being in OrCom is your Oblation—your self-sacrifice. You may sacrifice a lot at this point in your life, but there will come a time when all your efforts will be rewarded. There will come a moment when all the time and work you put into your education will bear good and successful laurels. In the midst of all the stress and deadlines, never let your determination falter, never settle for anything less than great, never stop moving forward, and most importantly, never forget to uphold honor and excellence.

It’s three in the morning.

It’s three in the morning, and instead of indulging yourself in some much-need sleep in the comforts of your own bed, you are seated in front of a mountain-high pile of academic work to do, filled with a newfound drive to power through and do one last push – because it has finally dawned on you that Hell Week is much, much shorter than the promising and success-filled life you have ahead of you.

Padayon, Iskolar ng Bayan. Padayon, OrCommunicologist.