It took me about two weeks to finally accept that my senior year is pretty much over. I was devastated. Ending college is already emotional on its own. Now, to have it shortened is even more upsetting. I went to my last class as an undergraduate without knowing it. We all knew we were going to be gone for two weeks but were unsure of what was to come after that.
No matter how drastically changed your senior year has become, it is important to know that you can still keep your senior year alive through various ways. It doesn’t have to be goodbye forever. Your relationships and memories can definitely still live on. It is all just up to you and how you decide to cope with this pandemic during these troubling times.
- Keep your senior year routine as much as possible.
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Being unproductive has various negative impacts on me. It led me to an unhealthy sleeping schedule and no matter how much I slept, I still felt exhausted. I started to push myself to wake up earlier every day and sleep earlier every night and I saw dramatic improvements in my drowsiness and alertness. Not only did I feel better, but I was incredibly more productive as well. My mental health also really relied on a healthy and productive routine. If I accomplished barely anything all day and knew I was capable of much more, I felt horrible about myself. I kept falling into this pattern of accomplishing very little and regretting my actions every day. So even though it may feel like summer already, make sure to continue your daily college routine at home and hold yourself responsible to them so that you don’t fall behind.
- Senior pictures
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Don’t forget that you are graduating, and this is huge! You deserve to carry on your grad traditions such as taking senior pictures with your friends. If this is hard to do because of social distancing, plan for it in the future! My friends and I are taking this quarantine time to look for a photographer to hire and our outfits and dresses for our pictures. Make sure to order your cap and gown for your pictures if you want them. This will help you keep your senior year traditions alive while giving you and your friends something exciting to look forward to.
- Staying connected with friends in your classes
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Make sure to keep in touch with your classmates that you have become friends with and any friends in general! Reach out to them via text, facetime, zoom, or phone calls. Most people have time to keep in touch right now with one another and you should make use of it. It is so easy to grow apart or distant when social distancing, especially when you are used to seeing friends in classes multiples times a week. Set up facetime dates and make plans for the future with one another!
- Online shop
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Make use of all the online sales going on right now! It feels like every day I hear of a new sale on various sites. Since all the malls and shops are closed for now, this is a great time to look into these sales and see if that dress you’ve always wanted is now somewhat affordable!
- Make use of this valuable family time.
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And lastly of course, spend this valuable time with your family and your closest loved ones. As frustrating as it can get with the cabin fever or some bickering among one another, it is important to realize that spending this much time with one another doesn’t happen that often. Make use of it by planning fun little activities such as baking with each other, cooking dinner, family game nights, and watching as many movies as you can. There are a lot of family traditions that often get overlooked when our busy lives take over. Make up for those activities now that you don’t have the excuse of not having time!
Just remember to keep planning for the future and be hopeful for better times to come!