After my sophomore year of college, I found myself going through the all-too-familiar identity crisis that most people experience after the novelty and excitement of freshman year dissipates. I didn’t feel intellectually stimulated by the academic course load I had, I was unfulfilled by my extracurriculars, and I felt as if I wasn’t doing anything to further myself in my career. On top of that, I was homesick for the first time since coming to college and had an overall uncertainty towards who I was, what I wanted out of my life, and what I wanted to do with my future.
Once Winter break started, I knew the new year would be a great chance to start on a fresh slate. Instead of dwelling on everything seemingly going wrong, I reminded myself of how excited I was when I first started college. I owed it to my past self who worked her butt off to get into Boston University to take advantage of everything that college had to offer.
I started by focusing on my mentality first. Instead of constantly berating myself for the lack of experience or knowledge I perceived myself to have, I told myself that I was a work-in-progress. What mattered was that I was willing to learn and grow. It’s unrealistic to think that I could ever acquire any skills I wanted to gain if I refused to put myself out there and practice. Everyone has to start somewhere, and with that in mind, I had a clearer perspective to go forth and take action to make my goals a reality.
The second thing I decided to combat was my fear of reaching out and taking risks. I never wanted to apply to different organizations or try out new things because even the mere thought of potential rejection further amplified my own insecurities. But I was determined to make a change. So instead of fearing rejection, I decided that the first step I would take was embracing risk that came with taking initiative. I realized that I had to free myself from the harsh expectations that limited me from being apart of great things, so I took a leap of faith and stepped out of my comfort zone. I applied to be an intern on a radio show, signed up for Panhellenic recruitment to join a sorority, and applied to start my own podcast—a passion project I wanted to start since freshman year but was too afraid to try.
At first, I was anxious about the results of all the new things I was signing myself up for. It was definitely a daunting task that I constantly worried about, but at the end of the day I was really proud of the progress I had made and I’m happy to say that it was all worth it. I am now an intern on the spooky and entertaining After Dark radio show, I have found an amazing group of women in the Sigma Kappa sorority, and the podcast I have always wanted to start has been approved and is now a dream come true!