Since the beginning of my time at college, I have had a holistic experience of the “classic freshman moves” package. It hit me like a whirlpool and, for the most part, I was an active recipient of the blow. Sparing us both details of my naïve idiocy, let’s just say that I took an L last semester.
While I didn’t gain the famous “freshman 15” I went to the gym a grand total of zero times last semester. When my dad, a crazily active person who was training for a marathon at the time, asked me on the phone why I never visited his favorite building on campus – also the only one that he remembered from the tour, I told him that I lived really far from the gym (I don’t).
I thought that I had substantial reasons: I was busy with schoolwork while struggling with my highly unnecessary personal drama, or trauma. The sheer stress of finding balance between the real purpose of college and other add-ons of my college experience had already worked me out, never mind going the gym.
Somehow, I finished last semester in one piece. During my five-week long winter break, I reassessed all the losses and gains from my first semester and how I would make the upcoming semester even just a little different. I came back to Dickinson with a renewed sense of longing to see my friends and slight excitement for my new classes. I decided to cut off some toxic relationships and bought myself a brand new pair of running leggings hoping that it would be enough motivation for me to get down D-Walk and make the trip to the gym.
On January 30th, 2017, I went to the campus gym for the first time. I didn’t even know where the water fountain was and had to text my friends for help, but it was fine. I was fine. In fact, I was great! I ran for 35 minutes and felt like the queen of the world afterwards. Based on my very limited memory from my high school freshman biology class, running, or working out in general, should help release endorphins in my body to make me happy.
More importantly, working out made me more efficient. The temporary mental “high” from working out was so memorable that I longed for it more and more every time I went to the gym. Instead of figuring when I would have time for naps, why certain people said certain things to me, or what my weekend plans would be, I spent more time trying to work out a schedule that would allow me to both finish my work and visit the Kline Center. Each time I went to the gym, there seemed to be some hidden surprises: I didn’t even know that the juice bar at the Kline had more options than the Underground did!
Going to the gym gave me a sense of emotional stability – I am overall at a much better place mentally than where I was last semester. While I wouldn’t give going to the gym all the credit for this transformation, adopting a healthier lifestyle and a more productive schedule certainly was a sign of my rebound.
Last semester may have been tough, but this semester I bounced back. More time spent on working out, less time spent on irrelevant negativity!