While avoiding packing up my room and submitting my last final paper, I decided to write a bit about how I would like to spend my summer. As a rising senior (!!!!!!) I feel totally comfortable at Amherst. I feel like I have found a really solid group of friends, and I am so grateful for the magical experience that has been my time at Amherst so far. Because of this relative ease, I want to get outside of my comfort zone this summer. I want to push myself to be uncomfortable sometimes so I can grow while experiencing new things.
From what I can tell, going abroad is a great way to try new things and step outside your boundaries a little bit. I did not take the opportunity to go abroad, so I want to find a way to grow in different ways. For me, this will have to come during the summer. Because I will be working with a large group of other people, I want to try and get to know people I wouldn’t typically gravitate too. Perhaps this will be someone from a really different place then I’m from. Or someone who has totally different interests than I do.
At Amherst, the people I am friends with tend to be fairly similar to me. I have pretty much stayed within my comfort zone in terms of who I hang out with. This is not necessarily a bad thing; I love my friends, but it doesn’t do much for me in terms of growing. So, this summer I want to challenge that. I hope to bring this challenge with me back to Amherst in the fall, as well. As an underclassman, I feel like I was given a lot of advice from the seniors I have known over my Amherst career. For the most part, I did not really follow the advice, because I thought I could just get to that tomorrow, I will be in college for four years! But now that I am nearing the end of my time here, I really want to push myself to meet new people. We are so lucky to go to a school like Amherst where there is no shortage of truly phenomenal students. I want to take advantage of this in as many ways that I can. I’m not sure what shape this challenge will take in the fall, but as far as the summer goes, I think I have a pretty good plan of how to get outside my comfort zone.
As I close this reflection, I am now starting to wonder if growing is something you can consciously do, but I do know that growth comes from putting yourself out there and trying something new, which is in my control. It seems funny, yet very typical to my personality that I am trying to plan out my own personal growth. Perhaps it will come when I least expect it. I will try to keep on reminding myself summer is a wonderful time to try something new and push yourself to be uncomfortable! I hope you all have a great summer break!