Spring Cleaning: Important Questions to Ask Yourself as You Tackle Spring Quarter

Congratulations, you’ve made it through the extra Circle of Hell known as Winter Quarter just in time for spring! The past few months have been tough, as any UChicago student can attest. From ever-so-difficult graders to the seemingly endless pile of work, it’s hard to take the time to breathe and assess life as it is.
 
But with every new quarter comes a new you, and with a new you comes a time when you have to sit down and reassess all your personal needs. What better time to do this than the start of Spring Quarter?
 
While everyone has their own personal questions to ask, it’s often hard to pinpoint where to begin. That is why we, at Her Campus UChicago, are offering some of our own guiding questions that will hopefully shed some light:
 
1.     Are you happy with your major?
 
As any college student knows, you develop so much as a person that your interests are bound to change, including your academic interests. The thought of switching your major or remaining undecided can be a daunting prospect, especially as many of you probably entered college believing that you had a pretty good idea of what you wanted to do (guilty as charged).
 
But as many of you are probably gradually discovering, you can’t always stick to a plan that you made long ago. So take the time to assess your current major (if you have one), and unpack all of your thoughts and feelings about it. What do you enjoy most? Do you find that you’re still just as passionate (or not as passionate) about your major than when you first started? While the questions may be too late for juniors and seniors, freshmen and sophomores should take the time to re-evaluate their academic goals.
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2.     How about living with no drama?
 
Drama, especially ongoing drama, affects your relations with other friends and students, which ultimately makes you unnecessarily frustrated. So why not start off Spring Quarter drama-free?
 
If you were personally involved in a dispute, see if it’s something that can be resolved right away. Apologize if you were in the wrong, or seek to talk things over for clarification. Either way, offer to put your negative history behind you, because no one wants to dwell on unsolved drama.
 
While you don’t need to completely forgive and forget if you have been wronged, distance yourself from situations in which you are not directly involved. It’s not your responsibility to resolve or endure someone else’s ongoing fight, so don’t pile on the unneeded task of mediating or taking sides. Besides, keeping distance could very well save you a lot of stress in the long-run.
 
3.     Can you be more/less involved on campus?
 
Many of us channel our stress through extracurriculars, especially through organizations on campus. Here at UChicago, it’s not hard to find someone who’s heavily involved in two, three, four, or more RSOs, making our campus one of the most active and vibrant in the nation. But like every commitment, each RSO will take up a certain amount of your time. Put on enough, and you may find yourself just as swamped with your hobbies as you are with your schoolwork.
 
If you found that you could barely balance your academics and extracurriculars last quarter, take the time to consider cutting down some of your RSO duties. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you should quit clubs and activities that you truly enjoy. What it does entail, however, is that perhaps you don’t need to be on the board for every RSO you’re involved in. Think about prioritizing your RSOs and pinpointing which ones you would truly like to be most involved in.
 
Or perhaps you’re the opposite. While some students need to think about cutting down on some activities, others may want to up their involvement in campus life. If that’s the case, re-evaluate your interests and determine if there are any new ones you may want to pursue. But make sure you know your limits! There’s no use joining three or four RSOs if you eventually find yourself way too stressed to be fully engaged.
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4.     How do you feel about campus itself?
 
No matter how many prospie trips you take or how many college forums you explore, you will never get the complete picture of a university until you attend. Your last few quarters here have probably unveiled many things left unexplained in your introductory pamphlets and websites.
 
While most are just minor elements that may not necessarily impact your college experience in a significant way, do take the time to see if there is anything about the university that makes you unhappy. Is the Core really cutting into your academic experience? Do you feel the campus social scene stifles the kind of friendships and relationships you’d like to build? If there is a problem, now is the time to identify it and plan out how it will be resolved.
 
In Summary:
The new you has new needs that you have to address. Part of what makes college such a riveting experience is your ongoing process of self-discovery, which ultimately helps you grow as a person. So take the time to figure out what makes you happy; it’s a healthy, essential step.