Freshman year was weird. It was freeing and exciting, but also tiring and overwhelming. I made a lot of memories and a lot of mistakes. The transition from high school to college was, in simple terms, crazy. Now that I’m a junior, I’m able to look back on that time period and compare it to my lifestyle now. It’s safe to say that I’ve made a lot of positive changes in the past two years.
I eat healthier and less.
I was never extremely concerned about what I ate throughout high school because my parents shopped well and cooked balanced meals for me. Upon entering college — with an unlimited meal plan and the best dining hall at my fingertips — I fell down a pretty slippery slope. Now that I was making my own food choices, I ate everything and anything that tasted good. I mean, it’s UMass dining! I used to fill my plates at every meal and almost always go for seconds… or even thirds. A couple of months went by before it all caught up to me. I was a victim of the freshman 15 after just the fall semester, and I realized I was not paying attention to the long-term effects of my eating habits.
Because I currently live off-campus, I now grocery shop, cook for myself, and only go to the dining halls occasionally. I’ve created a much better mindset about food, and I only eat until I’m satiated instead of stuffing myself like I used to. I also consciously look for healthier and more balanced alternatives to my favorite meals and snacks. It makes me feel so much happier and satisfied knowing that I’m taking care of my body.
I work out consistently.
Anyone will tell you that the hardest part about the gym is actually going. Once you force yourself to go consistently, it becomes routine and gets so much easier. I hardly ever went to the gym in high school, but I played sports. Once I got to college, I had no outlet for physical activity unless I forced myself to walk from my dorm to the Rec Center. Because I was eating so poorly, I never had the motivation to work out, so my body was not in the best shape overall.
I started going to the gym a few times a week in 2020, and now it is one of my favorite places. I’ve come to find that working out not only helps me physically, but it’s greatly benefitted my mental health as well. It allows me to blow off steam and convert all the energy in my brain into a physical form. Compared to freshman year, I have a much healthier body and mind thanks to the gym.
I stopped binge drinking.
While drinking in college is not everyone’s cup of tea, it’s definitely a big aspect of social life. Freshman year is probably one of the hardest times to control binge drinking because it’s a new and exciting lifestyle. Making new friends, going out with my roommates, and attending big parties were just a few things that pushed me to drink more. I hardly ever kept track of how much alcohol I was consuming because my only focus was having fun with my friends. This, unfortunately, got me in trouble a few times because of how careless I acted.
Now that I’m older, I’ve (thankfully) created much better habits and I drink substantially less. I’ve learned that you don’t have to drink a lot to have fun, and I’m able to have a couple of drinks when I go out and just be myself. This obviously took time for me to find confidence in my own decisions, especially because it’s so hard to not give into peer pressure. However, not binge drinking has positively impacted my life in so many ways and has eliminated a lot of negatives.
Your college experience is all that you make of it. It’s totally normal to make mistakes, but how you respond to those negative experiences is the true test of your character. Changing my habits took a lot of discipline, but I’m so much happier with myself and proud of how far I’ve come.
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