It’s a brand-new school year. All the emotions run through your head: excitement, curiosity, uncertainty, and so many more. Ever since I started my sophomore year here at KU, I’ve taken the time to reflect on my freshman year, and the differences in myself I’ve noticed are great.
- Stress Management
I remember when I started the fall semester last year as a newbie, and every single day I was absolutely stressed out. Dealing with my difficult science classes, adjusting to dorm life, trying to find my people, and so many more factors absolutely plagued my mind each day. To be completely honest, it was all starting to hit a little harder than expected. There were days I would just break down because I felt like I couldn’t handle all of these new factors in my life, and it was tough. At times, I felt like throwing in the towel and giving up. Luckily over the rest of the year, I found ways to manage my stress and maintain my college life, which brought me more happiness and tranquility for the time being. Some of these were:
- Exercise: Going to the gym for 15 minutes or even an hour or two helped me work off that pent up steam and allowed me to clear my head as well.
- Journaling: Writing down how I felt after a long day always helped calm myself down and allowed me to process everything in a better light too.
- Self-Care: A night to unplug, wind down, and focus on taking the best care of myself was a monumental staple in lowering my stress levels, and it soon became a ritual every single night.
- Balancing That Schedule
Starting college with a heavy schedule was absolutely no joke. Difficult classes during the day and a ton of homework at night were definitely hard to balance at first. I wasn’t used to having so much homework stacked on top all at once. Although, once I started to incorporate calendars and planners into my routine, it helped balance the craziness and things all worked out. Now, I make a monthly calendar with everything on my schedule, and it benefits me so much.
- Handling Situations Better
During freshman year I was faced with many situations, socially in particular, where toxic environments, people, and drama in general would affect me mentally. In some of these tense situations, I would channel these emotions too deeply, and let the hate take hold in my mind. Over the year, I began to realize that the hate was never that deep, and none of the drama was THAT important. I stopped giving in to those emotions, once I realized that the way people treat you is a direct reflection of how they feel about themselves. Over the summer and beyond to this day, I still always keep that in mind and never let anything truly get to me anymore. I simply laugh it off and continue on.
- Dressing to Express Myself
When I first arrived at KU in August 2022, I must admit that my sense of style was SERIOUSLY suffering. An odd mix between preppy, streetwear, and vintage, it was truly a confusing time for my fashion. Although, once I met my good friends and now roommates, we started to thrift more, where I discovered more clothing pieces to experiment with, which inspired me to change things up a bit. I tried different outfits out of my comfort zone and realized that I had created somewhat of a new look, which I loved. I would say that now my style is officially a chic/minimalist hybrid, and it works quite well. I can confidently say that I will never go back to those freshman styles.
- Coming Out of My Shell
The social anxiety when I first started college was real. So real that at the beginning of the year, I never really went out of my shell that much. Of course, you’re surrounded by people those first few weeks who are all mingling and going out of their way, but it got pretty overwhelming at times. Although I made a few friends in those weeks, I slowly started to retract back into my shell, which didn’t benefit me at all. Luckily, the friends that I had created somewhat of a safe environment, where we could all be ourselves. With their help, I realized that it was okay and fun to branch out to others. Since then, I’ve met so many other amazing people whom I’m grateful for every day. Even in these past few weeks as a new sophomore, I’ve been around and continue to meet people all the time.