Entering sophomore year, I was excited to take advantage of what the new semester held in store. I was planning on taking Splash by storm: joining new clubs, being a more active member of the clubs I signed up for last semester, and even trying to get a job. And so I followed through with that: I signed up for a dance class, joined Her Campus, applied both for an internship and a job, and even found film projects to be apart of to gain on-set experience. But within the first two weeks of sophomore year, the semester wasn’t going quite as well as I had expected it to.
I never heard back from the internship. I didn’t get the job offer. Meetings were piling up. Film projects that I had the opportunity to work on filled my weekends and my weekdays were fully booked with classes, homework, or if I was able to, working out. I struggled to juggle all the new activities that I had added onto my plate while making time to see friends, but whenever I met up with them it seemed as if they were either just as busy or even busier.
Everyone I knew had started getting jobs, starting projects, or were overloading their classes. And in some cases, they were doing all three. I was shocked. School had just started and everyone else was just as exhausted as I was. As a friend asked me how the class had been, I told her about how hectic things had been this semester and she smiled knowingly. “It’s the Sophomore Slump,” she said. Huh? What was that?
This was the first time I had ever heard of this term and so I asked her to explain. “It’s when you’re signing up for all those extracurriculars, trying to maintain your grades, but you kind of just start getting tired and burn out.” I was relieved that I wasn’t the only person who had felt this way, but also a little disheartened that college life had so quickly lost its novelty appeal.
In today’s society, it’s common to feel like you have to constantly be doing something, partaking in action, advocating for a cause, or making a difference. Being ‘booked and busy’ is desirable, but how sustainable is it? Even high school students are expected to have perfect scores, a wide range of extracurriculars, or some type of business start-up before they’ve even graduated. It’s unrealistic to put so much pressure on the younger generation, but what about college students?
Sophomores have already been around for a year. They’ve been to all the frat parties, visited all the nearby spots to eat, and now we’re in this weird middle ground. Some type of uninspiring limbo between the beginning and end of college. So, how do we stay motivated?
Unfortunately, we’re adults now so being busy is just a part of life. Fortunately, we still have time before we graduate to seize the day. If possible, scheduling at least one time or day of the week to be able to do something for yourself might help relieve some built-up stress within the week. It’s always nice to be able to look forward to doing something you enjoy or knowing that at the end of a busy week you’ll have time to yourself. So be active, but also actively make time to look after yourself too!
Want to keep up with HCBU? Make sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, check out our Pinterest board, and read our latest Tweets!