Architecture and My Lifestyle:

By Alan Kirkwood

Let me begin by saying, ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL IS ROUGH!!!! With that having been said, architecture school requires a lifestyle adjustment. This semester I have decided to take on that challenge and re-evaluate what is important and what isn’t in my life at this moment, what is necessary and what is frivolous, and accept letting some things go while adding others.

                During this recently passed summer semester, I began to see some areas I needed to fix. The primary one was, work on improving myself first before others.  Have always had the tendency to spend a lot of time helping others with their projects and just random things and often times it because the case where I would put the things I had to do for myself aside. That is not good! I am making a foundation for my future at this point in life and if I don’t focus on making that foundation as strong as possible, it will affect my opportunities in the future, and that is not what I want. The second thing I began to address was my physical health. As an architecture student, you spend a lot of time being stagnant at a desk in front of a computer, ordering out often, and sleeping very few hours. All of these practices are not good for your health!!! So in realizing these destructive habits, I decided to start exercising as much as possible, eat out less and find time for more sleep. Well, this lasted for about a week or so, but quickly faded. Why? Because I wasn’t dedicated. I kept gaining weight and feeling fatigued.

                This semester, I made a major decision. Part of what helped was a vacation I decided to take at the beginning of the semester to Puerto Rico where I saw many physically fit bodies on the beach as well as how much I enjoyed being there and would like to vacation like that often. So upon my return, I made a commitment to myself. I told myself that I will not go out to eat anymore unless it is for a something special. I will balance my meals better with vegetables. I will get at least 6 hours a night. I will go to the gym daily for at least an hour. As I have begun to put these things in practice, I have noticed that I feel a lot better physically, am getting into better shape, I’m balancing my schoolwork with relaxation time better and I have lowered level of stress. I would suggest that every architecture student take a life assessment as you enter the semester and set up some guidelines for how you plan to manage your time. IT HELPS!!!!