Stayin' alive

"And we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive."

Staying alive is what we do everyday. We sleep, we eat, we drink, we excrete, we do everything we can to stay alive. But that's in terms of physically staying alive, not mentally.

As the students of University of Malaya, we bear the hope of the nation. Our family puts faith on us, our friends look up to us, our neighbours compare their child to us, our nation invests upon us. In short, we are the future of this country.

And that's why we are here, gathered in a place that offers the highest form of education possible, a place that trains us to be the crème de la crème, a place that challenges our limits and pushes us out of our comfort zones, a place that is ranked 167 in the QS World University Ranking 2013, a place called the University of Malaya.

This explains why we have so many tests, assignments, tutorials, quiz, questionnaires, researches etc. And to top it up, we also have external activities such as residential college events, university society's commitments, out-of-UM projects and such. Thus logically speaking, 24 hours is not enough for UM students.

Because of the tight schedule and heavy responsibilities, we would often get tired, exhausted, fed-up, feeling emotional, lost, demotivated, even sick. Notice that although we might get enough sleep if we are good in managing time, but mental wise, we have to stand strong too.

If we over stressed ourselves, we would slowly become emotionally unstable and eventually we will experience what psychologists like to address as mental breakdown. It's as if we are balloons, holding too much stress and we end up bursting.

That's why whenever you have problems, share it out. There's just so many mediums for you to share out your problems, especially your family and friends. They are the group of people that will constantly support you no matter what happens, and they are also the group of individuals that will always be there for you.

Just remember, staying alive physically is important, but staying alive mentally is even more crucial because at the end of the day, it is what we think that governs who we are.

"When there's a problem, always remember to hakuna your tatas." - Jack Low