As the semester kicks off, I reflect on my time at Berkeley so far. I think about how I finally feel like I’ve established a routine, strong relationships with friends, and more direction for what I want after college—all of which were goals I’ve had since freshman year. Despite having an established routine, I still have my weekly or even daily crash outs. Conversation topics between friends and family about worries and fears of the future all led me to realize that things will keep changing overtime. I’ve come to realize the best thing for me to do is to talk over how to overcome these issues. Here are what I believe to be the most common crash outs as a college student.
1. Being Unsure About the Future
As juniors in college, all of us are thinking about the same thing: what happens after college? Whether you’ve secured your summer internship, have been accepted into a program, or are still on the search for any opportunities available, everyone seems to be questioning their unknown future ahead. I’ve been applying and interviewing for various roles, each interview leaving me more confused and worried about my future. Senior year is approaching and everyone, including myself, are left slightly scared about life after college. My weekly (or even daily) crash outs often include questioning whether the interview went well, if I would hear back from the company, which opportunities people should be applying for, and a general questioning of what direction to take. After all, we are all still students trying to navigate college unsure about what’s going to happen years to come.
2. Coursework
Everyone has crash outs over classes. It is Berkeley after all. It could be about homework due, an upcoming midterm, or results from the last test you took. These crash outs, despite not being new, continuously bring stress into my everyday life. Everyone here is constantly at the library, doing work, and studying. Each hour of the day is filled with something—a study session, a meeting, or a work shift. It’s always a new semester, but the same crash outs. My studying habits have definitely developed over the years and improved. But no matter how prepared and on top of things I feel for my classes, something still comes up leaving me stressed and not sure what to do next.
3. Friendships and relationships
Being in college is all fun and games until we all reach a point where there are conflicts in friendships, friend groups, roommates, and even relationships. A common topic of conversation among my friends is the issues we run into within the various relationships in our lives. It could be about a recent date, a roommate conflict, or changes in friend dynamics. Although I’d like to imagine everyone living peacefully without any conflicts, we are college students after all. Sometimes all it takes is a major crash out and debrief yapping session to sort out our thoughts and feelings about issues.
Despite consistently having crash outs over various issues, I still think college is exactly the place to have these conversations with others. Whether I’m crashing out over my next midterm or interview, I know I will look back during my time in college and think about all the improvements I’ve made in my life overcoming challenges and good conversations I’ve had working through them.