Since I began my last year of college, I’ve gone through waves of overwhelming stress and worry over my adult future, which is quickly approaching. Somehow, I’m 22, and it’s almost November. How do I slow down time? How do I live in the moment? How do I settle these spiraling thoughts? The best solution I have found: roommate dinners.
My roommates and I all have very different schedules, priorities, interests, and career paths. We love and appreciate these differences, but one thing we have all agreed to prioritize is setting aside some time during the week to relax, cook dinner, and sit down as a group. This has been extremely helpful in easing our racing minds throughout the week. We can vent, complain, and rant about the work and responsibilities that each of us have, while still reminding each other that we will all get it done and be okay. We collect our ingredients, clear the counters, and just start preparing dinner, each of us naturally finding jobs to fill. Then, when we’re done, we clean up and get out a cookbook to plan our next roommate meal. Fostering this safe, comfortable, and positive environment in our apartment not only helps us slow down our busy weeks, but it also helps prepare us for life after our small, college bubble.
Taco Tuesday is one of my personal favorites. No laptops. No homework. Just eating chips, queso, and tacos… and talking, of course. It’s important for me to be able to find my center during the week, especially on a Tuesday or Wednesday. It also helps me structure my afternoons; I can plan my evening schedules around roommate dinners. I’ve noticed that I tend to get into bed and rest earlier on these days as well. I want to relax and wind down after dinner with the girls, so I get my homework done earlier. I get to savor these moments with people who I genuinely enjoy spending my time with, in a place that I love.
Sometimes I feel like I can be too sentimental, but I want to look back on this time with all of the memories of “sweet senior year” that my young mind imagined many years ago. The last year of college can bring a lot of stress, with job applications, grad school decisions, nursing school applications, law exams, etc. This time of transition is stressful for everyone, and it doesn’t help that it seems to be going by very quickly. I encourage you to prioritize making some meals a social experience, even if it’s just with one other person. Sometimes these moments can shift your mental, emotional, and physical health, almost like a ripple effect of a small stone skipping across a pond.