In May of this year, I told myself that it was the start of my ‘Hot Girl Summer’. As a matter of fact, almost everyone claimed that this summer was their time to shine. On the first week of summer, I reached out to all my friends back home and made plans to hang out with each of them to keep me busy; going back home to Miami meant taking advantage of the cultural sights and places as often as I could.
Starting off on the right foot, I went to the beach with my close cousins the second week into summer, ready to get my tan on and beach attitude set in. Falling asleep under the sun with a book on my chest was a good scenario to play out until I woke up less than an hour later with a sunburn over my arms and legs.
By the time the third week of summer rolled in, I accepted a job offer that took up 5 out of 7 days of the week and most of my time. I also ended up in the hospital twice due to stress. Not so hot girl summer for me.
Now that my second year at college has started, the last thing I want to do is fall into a depressive cycle of stress, unbalance, and the traditional lifestyle of falling apart every minute as I become a jumbled mess of catching up and trying to get by with a barely surviving GPA. It’s a common process for college students, and usually hits us by the middle of the semester.
Where I am now (Mindset)
While my summer wasn’t exactly the ‘Hot Girl Summer’ I imagined, I still wanted the idea to be consistent. At first, the process of moving to another state again set me off and made me feel like an unprepared mess. Once I realized that my mindset was fixed on staying unsettled, I understood it was time to get my shit together.
One thing to understand is that no one is ever really prepared: Life throws bricks in our way and expects us to find a way to either let them block us, climb over them, or use them to our advantage to build something great.
I started working on a growth mindset by setting goals for myself, with general ideas to how I can specifically get there. I made my standards high, but made sure my expectations weren’t above what I’m capable of. By having big ideas, but understanding that sometimes the bare minimum is the most I might get some days, I take failure with a grain of salt, and work on doing better next time.
Starting new hobbies, following an outlined schedule, writing down plans and preparations; it’s in the little things we do that help us feel more confident in the way we work and in ourselves. I’ve been faking it till I make it, but now with my Hot Girl Semester in session, I’m starting to really live within that success.