This seems fitting as this is the first article that I am writing for Her Campus. I chose to apply to be on the writing team because I have been a long-time reader of Her Campus, and writing is one of my passions and I haven’t really made it a priority to pursue this regularly. While I am super excited to start there is a tiny part of me that’s like “Seriously Sahana, you are joining a new thing your second quarter of sophomore year? This is something you should have joined freshman year.” I feel like as I get older it becomes harder to try new things because internally it feels like it’s too late, even though rationally I know that it isn’t.
There are certainly times in life when you’re expected to be a beginner, like while entering college, starting your first job, etc. The problem for me arises when I only give myself a certain amount of time for an “adjustment period” and then I expect myself to “have everything figured out by then”. During my fall quarter of freshman year, I was both excited and overwhelmed by the thousands of opportunities at UW. I went to the RSO fair and a few intro meetings for some clubs and in my head, I anticipated sticking with them for the next four years. I wanted to establish myself in terms of the activities that I pursue very quickly.
Looking back, I understand that it was very naïve of me to think that I knew exactly what I wanted out of college. I know some people can have very linear and straightforward paths, but I am not one of them. In terms of the clubs that I joined, some of them had time commitments that were too difficult for me to prioritize, and some had communities that I didn’t entirely feel connected to, so it made sense for me to leave them.
As a sophomore currently in my fifth quarter at UW, I am still figuring things out and I don’t think I will ever stop, even after graduating from college. I realize that I am pretty bad at predicting my future and right now the best thing I can do, is to be grateful for the fact that I have so many opportunities around me and pursue the things I am interested in with an open heart and mind. I have no idea how my experience writing for Her Campus will go but I am eager to find out.