Coming into freshman year, I expected many things: mediocre cafeteria food, the horror of communal bathrooms, and the struggles of homesickness. What I was not expecting was the amount of free time I would have or the boredom that comes from having so much free time.
I call my mom most nights, and when I told her this problem I had, her response surprised me. She told me, “This is what it’s like when you are single.” I’ve never not been single, but I’ve also never not lived with my family, so this was news for me. I tried to envision what single people in the world do in their daily lives to stay busy, and I found some great ways to add more meaning and activity to my life.
For those of you who are either like me and are adjusting to college life as a freshman, or you are newly single and don’t know how to spend your time, here are some of my tips.
- Take care of yourself
Paint your nails. Straighten your hair. Do your skincare routine. Taking care of yourself is so important, but it can be hard when we are always rushing from one thing to the next, so use this downtime to pamper yourself. Because who doesn’t love looking and feeling their best?
- Clean your living space
Take time to do things that may not be fun but need to be done. Do your laundry. Make your bed. Wash your dishes. It may not be the most fun way to spend your time, but trust me, it will make you feel better, and it will make you feel productive. And who doesn’t love a clean space or going to bed with fresh sheets?
- Explore new (or existing) hobbies
Have you always wanted to try knitting? Or baking? Or painting? Now is your time to try it! Even if it’s not a new hobby, do it! If it’s drawing, reading, playing an instrument, as long as it’s something you love, you will have fun.
- Reach out to friends
Whether it’s your current friends or people you haven’t seen since high school, reach out to them. Even if it’s just to say hi or ask how they are doing, you never know what it could turn into. You might even end up Facetiming for two hours; I know it’s happened to me!
- Don’t feel like you constantly have to be doing something fun and exciting
I think there is a common misconception about college, especially freshman year, that you constantly need to be doing something crazy and fun every second. I’m sure we’ve all heard stories from family and friends about how they had so much fun partying and hanging out with all their friends, and I’m sure they made it sound like they never had downtime just to themselves. But that’s not true! We just don’t hear about the downtime because those aren’t the stories we share. So there is truly nothing wrong with spending the afternoon by yourself. The only thing that matters about how you spend your free time is that you spend it in a way that makes you feel happy and productive.