I am just beginning my sophomore spring semester and I can’t believe this will mark two years’ worth of college. I still feel like the freshman that came in the fall, figuring things out, debating if I should pursue something or not, and still working on making friends. While progress has been made in these areas, college hasn’t necessarily gotten easier, but it’s more manageable. During winter break, I reflected on this a lot, particularly on how I want to go about things this spring. A really useful tool was creating a vision board for 2023 (it is not too late to make one), in it I put images that reflect how I want to carry myself within the next couple of months, and hopefully these turn into habits. I would like to discuss the different thoughts I had as I curated this piece of work.
For a while, I tried to separate my academic and personal life, however, I found that I would end up solely focusing on the school part, neglecting the goals I had made for my life outside of school. Complimenting them to fit one another, the way I see it is creating a mosaic of who I am. For example, a goal that I would continuously set is to make the gym a habit. I would end up leveraging that time to do other academic activities, that by the end of the fall semester I wished I would’ve carved out a space in my calendar to prioritize physical activity. In turn, throughout winter break, I attempted to tweak my mindset by seeing the time for the gym, spiritual life, and friends as my time of rest – where I recognize that for me to succeed as a student my mental and physical health requires time.
Journaling has become a space for me to also reflect, which I did a lot of before I began the spring semester. I found that I am much better at expressing how I feel and see things through my writing. I learned that journaling doesn’t have to be a consecutive set of sentences that summarize your day, but I can do it through bullet points, poems, or jotting down a small quote that has stood out to me
As you enter or continue through college, it’s easy to get caught up with academics and forget to make yourself a priority too. However, self-care is pivotal to your success, and I highly advocate for that for students. While I discussed self-directed forms of care, everyone is different and this isn’t a “one size fits all” situation. Using my campus resources, and reaching out to others has been useful for me as I adjust to the changes I’m undergoing as a young adult and student.
– Catherine <3