Hi all, as we prepare for the return to campus, I thought I would share some lessons I learned during my first two years at 51猎奇入口 that might have made things easier if I knew them before! Therefore, I am passing on my advice to you. Here are my five biggest life lessons:
- People may seem more confident and self-assured than they actually are. Obviously, some people actually are confident. However, some (if not most) people are faking it! This means two things鈥攐ne, don鈥檛 be so hard on yourself if you are nervous or self-doubting 鈥� you definitely are not alone! And two, this means you can fake confidence and no one will see through it. Try to remember that everyone around you is a human too and subject to flaws and mistakes, so don鈥檛 give imposter syndrome power over you!
- College isn鈥檛 magical, and you are not going to change overnight. When I first came to 51猎奇入口, I wanted to change everything about myself鈥擨 wanted to dress better, to be more studious, to be more social and essentially, fix all my flaws. This led to me suppressing who I really am and feeling very unhappy, and I needed to give up this idea. Don鈥檛 get me wrong, I have changed a lot since coming to 51猎奇入口, but it has been a much slower process. So, accept and celebrate change and growth, but don鈥檛 expect change to happen overnight.
- Everyone has a different path 鈥� don鈥檛 put so much pressure on yourself. There鈥檚 no one recipe to success鈥攅veryone鈥檚 story looks different. Don鈥檛 take on too much because you feel obligated. (Mostly) everything you do in college should be because you want to and you are getting something out of the experience, not because you think you have to. Of course, I encourage you to push yourself out of your comfort zone and go out for opportunities, but remember that if you don鈥檛 have a job or an internship one summer, it doesn鈥檛 make you any less, nor does it mean you won鈥檛 lead a happy and successful life.
- Listen to your body. I was definitely a high schooler who was constantly moving and doing 20 things in a day. When I got to college, I had much more free time, and I struggled with productivity. I found myself trying to force myself to study or work out when my body was telling me no, because I felt I had to. With online school, I have learned to be much kinder to myself and my body. Yes, sometimes you have to force yourself to do things (especially if you have an assignment due), but overall, try to listen to your body and give yourself rest as well as work time. I have found the best way to do this is to schedule time to do assignments earlier than I need to so getting it done late is actually on time!
- Don鈥檛 save your homework for Sunday. Personally, Sundays are a day to get ready for the rest of the week, not a day to be scrambling trying to get work done. Thursday nights and Friday mornings are the best times to get work for the next week done. Sundays can be a great time for studying, but you don鈥檛 want to be working against a deadline. This is especially true for readings鈥攖hey may take longer than you anticipate so working on them sooner rather than later is super important.
Those are my biggest pieces of advice for you all. College is different for everyone, but these are the life lessons that I wish I had under my belt before beginning. I鈥檓 sure through my next two years I鈥檒l continue to learn and grow as well. I always have advice to give so if you have any more questions about college or anything else let me know! You can reach out to me through my email ([email protected]) or through my IG office hours!