In honour of our chapter’s mental health theme week, I am here to talk about the honest roller-coaster my Fall 2021 semester was, and all the valuable lessons I have learned coming out of it. From navigating the tough Kingston housing market to scams to self-doubt academically and to winter break when we heard that our winter 2022 semester would be online and my vacation plans cancelled due to the soaring omicron situation, it has arguably been a term that has tested my resilience levels to the greatest it’s ever been.
This pandemic has been tough and long. There is no doubt that all of us, especially in January 2022 with online school, feel the depths of stress, confusion, sadness, and longing for better times more than ever. Sometimes, it feels like there is no end to this. The light at the end of the tunnel is so bleak. However, it is important to acknowledge our progress and exercise self-compassion. As we wake up each day, we should plan our day as we would to someone we care about and love. Soon, things WILL get better, and we would have learned so much from the process.
Looking back at Fall 2021, it was certainly a whirlwind of emotions. There was a mix of very good things and very bad things. I was a Gael for the incoming class of 2024 as part of the ArtSci faculty, and my Teach orientation group from 2020 got to do an orientation weekend for the Con-Ed class of 2022, who missed their orientation last year. I definitely encountered lots of bad luck this semester despite my hopes and expectations. It was one of those times where I arguably experienced the most self-growth. Come September moving back to Kingston from Vancouver, I was so excited and set for the return of in-person classes. That excitement was easily swept away though when I ran into a very precarious housing situation and lived and switched between four hotels for a whole month with my parents.
Once I was settled though, the bad luck didn’t stop there. Eventually, I had to move out again over halfway through the semester and move into my own apartment finally, after failure with the Kingston student market. I learned a very important lesson I feel all university students should be aware of, that if you live with your landlord/property owner, they have the right to ask you to leave anytime, for whatever reason, even if you did not do anything overtly wrong. It’s important to maintain boundaries with everyone including your landlord and housemates, because even when they seem like they are being so nice to you, conflicts can still erupt anytime if you are not careful. Abrupt changes can happen, and you have to be prepared for that. School become so much more than just going to class and submitting assignments, but a survival game to make sure I did not end up on the streets (thankfully, that never happened).
In addition, I had a big career awakening that semester. I made a huge decision in late November to follow my heart. I dropped the Con-Ed program, and decided to just pursue my regular four-year ArtSci degree. This was a decision that I knew was right, because of the relief I felt afterwards. This is something I’ve been thinking about for over a year, and although it was a tough decision to make, I knew within that I did not want to be a teacher anymore. I did self-reflection and realized that I am that type of girl who needs to build her own empire, move to the big city, dream big dreams, and achieve them. While teachers are important to our society, and this choice was in no way me slandering the teaching profession, of course, it was not fit for me, and that’s okay. We are only in university after all, and have our whole lives ahead of us to find ourselves and our passions. It is totally normal and okay to have a shift in degree plans. The best part is? Now I can finally case my dreams to move to New York, go to journalism grad school, and pursue a journalism career! It’s time to keep chasing those dreams. Originally I was going to stick with it, as it’s not a significant change to my program, but I did the right thing. I came thinking teaching was what I was most passionate about, but it turned out to be far from the truth. This epiphany was a learning experience, knowing what works and does not work for me. Of course, those who are passionate about teaching and stick with it for their entire career are amazing. It is just not for me finding myself very unhappy thinking this would be the path I was headed towards. Sometimes when we are young we think we know everything, but then realize the world is such a big place and things can change instantly. After all, none of us pictured a COVID-19 world leading to this level of self-discovery, so life always has its ways of surprising us.