When picking where I wanted to go for university, one of the reasons why I chose Dalhousie was because of its location; the beautiful east coast. I pictured that when I got here, it would be smooth sailing and as good as everyone online advertised it to be. Halifax is a great place to live, but unfortunately last year I was so wrapped up in my own problems that I was too distracted to notice it. Coming back this year, I have a newfound appreciation for this city and my life in it .
The reality is that last year had a lot of ups and downs for me. I don’t need to preach to you about how your first year moving out for university or just moving out in general can be hard, because you’ve already heard that multiple times. And frankly, you’ve probably experienced it first-hand too. However, I do want to share with you how my mindset and environment this year has changed my life and that if you’re not loving your situation right now or are going through a bit of a hard time, it does in fact get better.
The first step to improving your life is by taking a step back and reflecting on if the cause of your stress and unhappiness is something that you can change, or if it just requires a mindset shift. There’s a famous quote by Maya Angelou that says: “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” For me, it was a bit of both. I didn’t like my program and it put me into a constant bad mood sometimes projected into how I treated others. I was also just more negative in general and not as motivated last year, so this year, I’ve tried to become more organized. I have moved away from that program, and I stick to a schedule with tasks that I actually enjoy completing so it feels less like work when I get them done.
The second step that you can take to improve your life is to surround yourself with a better group of people. Luckily, I have been blessed with the best and most supportive friends that anyone could ever ask for. However, if you’re hanging out with people that are always taking a toll on your energy and mood, it’s time to re-evaluate who you’re spending your time with. It’s said that you are the average of the five people that you spend the most time with. If the people that you are hanging out with don’t have a positive outlook on life or don’t have the same goals and drive as you, it’s going to be hard for you to grow into the person that you want to become.
A realization that I came to over the summer was that instead of being in the mindset that ‘I HAVE to do this’, start thinking like ‘I GET to do this.’ I know that this may be a bit corny, but it honestly did make a difference for me this summer at my job. At first, I really disliked my job and only saw the negatives in it, and woke up each day with a bad mood, which was already setting me up for failure. Overtime, I started taking the time to think about the things that I did enjoy about my job and thinking about all the pros that came along with it that I got to experience. This made it a lot better for me, and afterwards, I started enjoying going to work and looking for the positives in each day – even if they were just simple things. I’ve now carried this into the school year with me and look forward to waking up and starting my day, no matter what I have planned.
If you’re going through it right now, I do feel for you. But just know that it will pass. Maybe it will just take time for things to get better, or maybe you need to take action and change some things about your life. Rock bottom is a pretty solid foundation and once you hit it, the only way to go is up. Make this year the best one that you can for yourself. You’ve got this.