No matter what year of college you’re in, we all tend to face the same struggles each and every year. Some are unavoidable, and with this, we develop ways to cope with and overcome these challenges. Here’s your guide when it comes to dealing with these common struggles that college brings our way.
1. Being homesick. This is definitely a problem someone of any age will experience at least once in his or her college career. Whether it’s a stress overload, friend troubles or even that late night craving for mom’s cooking, we all find ourselves missing how simple life really was while living under our parents’ roof. The best ways to deal with feeling homesick is to call home often! Sometimes all you need is just to hear the voices of your family giving you words of encouragement to keep up the good work. Another idea to help deal with homesickness is to keep busy. Join clubs that interest you and hangout with your friends during your free time. Taking time to do things that you’re interested in is the perfect way to keep your mind off of missing home and, instead, make you more excited to tackle the day because you’ll be doing things that you love!
2. Becoming broke. College is the time where we are sent out to live on our own. Without our parents constantly monitoring our money like they did at home, we usually end up spending more than planned, especially on the weekends. Let’s face it, we all get sick of Barone’s dining hall food within the first week of school and look at ourselves as starving students when forced to live off Barone every day of the year. This leads to more groceries and less money in the bank. One way to help overcome this struggle is to put a certain amount of money in your bank account a week. That way, you are only spending what you allow yourself to spend. It also is helpful to have all of your money in an ATM or bank account because it makes it a little bit harder to get a hold of your money. No one wants to take that walk to the ATM in BCC and, by not carrying cash with you everyday, you’ll have time to rethink if whatever you’re about to buy is really worth it.
3. Fitting in.The whole idea of “fitting in” can be a constant struggle for many college students. We all want to have friends and stand out as someone worth knowing. Many may try to change themselves to be accepted by certain people, whether it’s their personality, their looks or their actions. Fitting in and feeling accepted can often feel like the toughest part of college for some, but luckily there is an easy solution to overcome this obstacle. The simple answer is don’t try to fit in. That’s right- losing yourself and everything you stand for is not the right way to go about feeling accepted. The truth is there are people at every school who will truly like you for who you are. The idea of fitting is a struggle everyone faces, but the sooner you realize how important and beneficial it is to just be yourself, the easier it will be to find people you truly click with and for everything to all fall into place.