I vividly remember my first day of freshman year in college after four months of an online semester. It was exciting and nerve-racking at the same time. The former had greater precedence as I finally had the chance to attend college post-pandemic. Freshmen year kicked off with a great serotonin rush and I was willing to participate and explore every opportunity that knocked at my door. Right from societies and internships to figuring out living independently in a new city like Delhi (which I still am!), life left like an adventure, with new strides and waves every day. However, the freshmen year got over in the blink of an eye and I could foresee the sophomore or the second year of my undergraduate life looming over me. Don’t get me wrong—being a current sophomore, I’m ardently looking forward to it, but there’s this impending dilemma that comes with it and it needs to be addressed.
Freshman year is usually seen as the year of trying out different options and avenues. One tends to divulge into various clubs and societies to figure out their interests or unmask unexplored tenets that they may have within. On reaching sophomore, one tends to streamline their goals and interests roughly as they realize what works for them and what doesn’t. However, this comes along with the pressure of building a stellar resume or CV for landing that perfect job, establishing a long-term start-up or making it to one’s dream graduate school. All of this seems overwhelming and there’s no denying it. But this overwhelmingness, if not addressed aptly, might have repercussions for one’s health and active academic and social performance.
The Fear of missing out or FOMO can be a major impede to a college student’s choices and decisions. This traverses not just in academics but in social and peer-to-peer interactions. FOMO might lead one to land up with things that are just not meant for them, but they choose to do so because their peers or supposed others around them are doing it. It can lead to overburning and a fractured college routine which is unhealthy and toxic for one’s mental and physical sanity. This concerns most college students nowadays and aggravates, especially in your sophomore and senior year, when everyone around you is doing something and you see yourself lagging despite working hard enough to build yourself.
This is where acceptance and acknowledgment come in. Give yourself some time and space to think about your choices. We are humans. Our brains and bodies aren’t mechanized to grind and work constantly. A break of any scale to reflect upon ourselves increases our efficiency and productivity. There’s no set rule to seize every opportunity. Prioritizing quality over quantity provides you with more refined experiences than juggling everything at a time. What works for one may not work for you or may not be something you want to chase after. Secondly, one shouldn’t drive all their energy settling in their 20s. This is when you can make mistakes, fall and get going. Lastly and this is something that I have found effective is to interact with your peers, professors and people from your interested domain to broaden your horizon and make the most of your college life.
College is a transformational process more than just a degree on a piece of paper. It has the power to transform one in leaps and bounds. Being a sophomore feels like jumping into an ocean and figuring out your way to reach that port, but it gets better when we start looking at it beyond our resumes and placements. Addressing the inner call takes time, but when we do so, things gradually fall in place and I hope it does for all the sophomores reading this.
With love,
From one sophomore to another!