Wow, a couple of weeks ago I finished my sophomore fall semester, three-eighths of the way done! Quite honestly, this semester felt never-ending, despite the multiple breaks. While my freshman year gave me a strong foundation, as I built multiple skills throughout it, my course load definitely challenged me this semester. Even with a year of college under my belt, I still had many downs and doubts this fall, but as I look back I am proud that I was able to persevere in a demanding environment. Five years ago, when I was just a freshman in high school, never would I have thought I would be churning out multiple essays, and learning heavy concepts within the span of 16 weeks, but nevertheless, I superseded my expectations this semester (I would like to shoutout my 18-page research paper, a difficult task, but the highlight of this fall).
This fall, I found myself with an overwhelming amount of work and would continuously worry that I wouldn’t perform as I had planned. As a first-gen student, I feel that I can be extremely self-critical of myself in spite of trying to milk the college experience since not many in my community have gotten this opportunity. However, academics shouldn’t define who you are as a person, a balance is necessary. Yes, it’s great that we’re pushing ourselves to make the most out of college, but we are much more than academics and a career. I made the mistake of solely focusing on that this fall and neglected the other areas in my life that I wanted to grow in. Sometimes, in college, it’s so easy to let go of yourself and lose focus on the things you love to do, because of the stressful environment. As I reflect, I have a couple of pieces of advice that I’m planning to carry out these next semesters. For starters be kind to yourself, and give yourself the same grace that you would give to your loved ones. Forgiveness to yourself is a big one! And one that I will keep close to home this next semester is “the way you speak to yourself can change everything.”
I hope to implement many new habits and ways of thinking this upcoming semester, and I can’t wait to come back and share more about my college journey
– Catherine Ferro Manzanares <3