Is it just me, or does anyone else struggle at adjusting back to school? Each year after the summer, I find myself and others around me feeling the same way, yet we do not talk about it about.
College is a challenging and stressful time, and whoever says it is not is lying. During this time, you are not getting your degree and take all the right classes. You are getting involved, working to help support yourself and gain experience outside of just classes. You are also for the first time on your own, trying to find yourself in a different environment. Taking the time to look at who you are and what is essential for the first time. All while still trying to make friends, have memories, and enjoy this phase of life. It sounds kind of impossible if you lay it out like this. Yet it is expected and if you can not handle it all you are judged.
Every school year, I have a goal on trying to manage it all. Of course, I want to have the best school year academically, but I also want to make memories because I am never going to be at this phase of life again. I find the adjustment difficult because my life in school and my life not in school are different. When I am home, I am just working, taking a class or two, and relaxing. When I am in school, I am usually taking sixteen credits of coursework, working two jobs (which both require 8-10 hours of work per week), on top of running a club, being on the executive board of another club, and being in a sorority. I am constantly jumping from zero to one-hundred always. I feel like this is the same for a lot of other students.
Here is what I have learned. It is ok to admit that adjusting back to being in school is an adjustment. Allow yourself to be honest with your emotions. Even though you are adjusting, take time for yourself. This year I have tried to take time for myself each day, especially with being on zoom. Each morning I am trying to stay away from my phone and spend my wakeup time journaling for a little and reading to wake myself up. At night I am trying to go to bed at a decent hour, so I am functioning the next day. I also am meditating before bed and trying to stay away from looking at my phone at least thirty minutes before bed. It is okay to say no. I think in college FOMO (Fear of missing out) is very real. We feel like we have to say yes to everything and do everything, but it is ok to say no or to be doing homework while all your roommates are downstairs eating. You have to make yourself a priority and listen to what your body needs. Take it day by day. Just because today is not going well does not mean that tomorrow won’t. Sometimes you have to just go day by day and not worry too much about the other days. It is okay to admit that adjusting back to college is hard. We all feel this way.