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By Dajah Taylor
No one ever said college would be this hard. It’s only been three weeks, and yet it feels like four years have passed.
There are many perks to going to a smaller institution. For one, you get smaller class sizes, interactions with your classmates feel more intimate, and your professors actually know your name. However, sometimes being at a smaller school can make you feel stuck, and you might stand out like a sore thumb.
I remember in high school, my teachers would constantly tell us, “When you get to college, no one is holding your hand.” Personally, I think that’s a lie. I feel like I have a lot of help in college, but I do sometimes get that sense of being alone. And there’s a difference between being lonely and being alone. Lonely is defined as “sad because one has no friends or company,” while alone is defined as “having no one else present.” Sometimes it’s good to be alone. But loneliness, if it lingers, can turn into bigger problems.
Going to college means more freedom, more opportunity, and more risk in the choices you make. Sometimes, when there’s a party going on and your friends want to go, you have to lock in and say no, because you know you need to wake up at 6:30 a.m. (Oh…is that just me?) There are a million and one things happening in college, but you eventually realize you can’t be at all of them. There are club fairs, parties, classes, hanging out with friends, and everything in between, and it can get draining so quickly. But you know what? That’s okay. You just have to find the things that recharge you. For some, that’s a nap. Personally, I’m not a nap person, so I like watching TV, reading, or doing things that engage the senses, like playing with kinetic sand, curling up with a weighted blanket, or baking chocolate chip cookies.
Everyone talks about how wonderful college is, but hardly anyone mentions the effort it takes. And don’t even get me started on having to process the state of the world on top of it all.
College is not for the weak. But that doesn’t count you, because if you’re reading this, you’re not weak. You just have to learn how to adapt. No, it won’t happen in three weeks, but when you feel like giving up, tell yourself, “one more week.” It sounds silly, but it works when your energy tank is about to hit E.
It’s okay to decline an invite and chill in your dorm. It’s okay to want to party and meet new people. What matters is moderation. With it, your stress won’t shoot through the roof, and you’ll actually feel like getting work done.
Now stop reading this and get to work.