You’ve probably heard of “senioritis”: the common condition that afflicts people in their final years of high school/college. Symptoms include, but aren’t limited to, excessive procrastination, lack of motivation, skipping classes, and a desire to never again look at a classroom for a long, long time. I, however, am not a senior. Senioritis can’t ravage me for another two years (phew!). Though, I have noticed similar patterns in myself and a few fellow sophomores. It makes me wonder if “sophomoritis” might be a thing as well.
Being second years, sophomores are like middle children. They are overshadowed by the intensity of being a freshman or senior and also lack the excitement of moving forward that a junior might feel. Sophomore year could also be the Wednesday of someone’s school years. It is the hump they have to get over in order to make it to the final half. All in all, the year doesn’t have anything particularly special about it. Even with that said, sophomore year also means that someone has gotten past the formative times of being a freshman and likely feels more comfortable as a person and a student. But to rain on that parade, sophomoritis comes in.
Sophomoritis, to me, is creeping chaos. It’s being bogged down by the weight of things that haven’t really happened yet. It’s feeling you should know your community better than you do. It’s worrying over your major because that plays into your future, but also worrying about how your old freshman friend group has fallen apart when you thought it might last forever. Melodramatic as it is, my sophomore year has been marked by a million little things like these. It’s not unique, everyone goes through them, but I think it’s oddly understandable for things like this to contribute to sophomoritis. The drama of starting college has cooled down, and the drama of ending college is a long way off, people and relationships are still changing (sometimes ending), and the mythic, definition-eluding Real World is starting to close in.
Is there any way to manage sophomorits? It’s mundane advice, but self-care and goal-setting seem like the way to go. Set goals for school, treat yourself every now and then and remember that it’s okay to seek out support when you need it.
