Savor the sweet things

You can’t have your cake and eat it too.

I didn’t understand the phrase until recently. I always figured if I had cake I would eat it.

In this context ‘have’ means ‘keep.’ Thanks, Wikipedia.

It’s hard to resist those delicious RPS muffins — which are pretty much cake — when walking by a campus cafe.

Too often when we get something we want, its appeal disappears soon after.

Or, in the case of the RPS muffin, it’s physically gone.

Sometimes, though, there are things worth keeping around more than a muffin.

In my four years, I’ve definitely become part of college’s culture of consumption.

Make friends, participate in class, find an internship, pick a career — all to get somewhere else.

Winding down from midterm exams and papers, I took a minute to make a list of all the things I needed to catch up on in other areas of my life.

And then I stopped.

I was amazed at how many things I had let slide.

I had let so many connections go to the wayside, not just this semester, but over the last few years.

Most relationships, whether they’re professional, friendly or romantic, offer something that shouldn’t just be devoured right away.

Of course, an internship has the potential to lead to a job and career.

Acquaintances you met in your residence hall freshman year can become your best friends no matter how far apart you are physically for a semester or two.

And relationships — well, all of our news feeds are filled with engagement pictures of those who undoubtedly won the award for cutest couple at some point or another.

In college, we’re all losing our minds with how busy we are.

If you aren’t, please share your secrets.

We meet more and more friends as time goes on, and we lose touch with old pals.

Love is scary, and sometimes relationships don’t work out.

Sometimes it only makes sense to let go like it’s the only way you can keep up with everything else going on.

But you never know when you’ll find your golden ticket — that thing that makes you so happy you just glow.

If it wasn’t worth it, the song “Hold On” by Wilson Phillips wouldn’t be such a hit.

Now that your academic schedule has let up a little bit, bake a cake or some muffins and reconnect.

The cake might not be worth keeping, but the connection surely is.

­— wroyal@indiana.edu
Follow columnist Will Royal on Twitter @RealGoodWill.