Freshman year has passed, and a new day begins as you step back onto your campus after a long summer break. You feel as though you’re basically a new person. This year, you plan to be reborn, reinvented… but first, you have to get through your first day of general psychology. DiscoverDegree Programs
If you’re stepping into your golden second year of college, here are some tips that can help you:
1. Keep your circle of friends and make new ones.
Going into second year, it’s easy to fall into a comfortable bubble with your circle that may prevent you from meeting new people.
Friendship bubbles are nice and comfortable, but remember to look for new friendships, too. Say hello to that one student you always see walking to class alongside you. Knock on someone’s door and introduce yourself. The more friends, the merrier.
2. Don’t forget to eat breakfast.
With all of the semester’s chaos, you will surely run to and from class everyday. If you’re anything like me, that potential tardiness in English class might count more than your early-morning croissant. Two hours later, you’re hopping to class number two and feel a deep rumbling in your stomach. Five minutes to go before psychology, and now lunch break isn’t even an option.
Don’t forget to pack an extra sandwich or protein bar before class so you have enough energy through the day. Giving yourself that extra 5 minutes to make an egg in the morning might save you from later mid-day starvation– and better prepare you for that pop-quiz your 8 A.M. professor decides to spring on you on a random Thursday.
3. Remember to drink water, too.
If you were a friend of my roommates and me during sophomore year, we definitely invited you to one of our infamous Wine Wednesdays. Glass after glass of the sweetest rosè you’ve ever tasted in your life, and there it is – the morning after. EnrollIn Courses
Your 7:40 alarm goes off, and you feel a terrible ache in your head. There’s a sourness in your stomach. The taste of stale sugar in your mouth.
Yes, this squalid overboogie can be fun, but with just a few glasses of water alongside each glass of wine, you can slightly eliminate that morning headache. My roommate taught me this hack about halfway through the school year. I, unfortunately, learned the trick too late – so I’m sharing it with you now.
4. Treat everyone with kindness and grace.
Freshman year, you had the chance to get all of your drama-seeking tendencies out. Some people say they try to avoid drama. But in freshman year, the drama always has a special way of finding you.
Going into sophomore year, try to lead your life with empathy and kindness. Try to understand why your roommate invited her Hinge date overnight without telling you. Try to see the situation from her perspective.
Be sure to stand up for yourself, but try to see the truth in others first. Remember that everybody around you is living this part of their lives for the first time, too.
5. Lose yourself just to find yourself again.
Going into my sophomore year, I thought I knew exactly who I was. I had found my place on campus, made friends, and worked towards an internship in the summer.
For a good month, everything in my life seemed to be going right. I was writing a screenplay, succeeding in school, partying with my friends almost three times a week, and hanging out with a boy I thought I knew well. Eventually, though, it all came apart.
I lost hold of the things that I deemed a part of “who I am.” Relationships fell apart, semester finals knocked me out, and I learned to live with the cloud of being hungover every day. I slumped to class and slumped back home to do my makeup for another night out. TryTime Trackers
I did lose myself, but I soon learned to change my mindset. With all of the exterior distractions falling away, I could see who I really was. The loss of that perceived idea of myself eventually led to redirection.
Around that time, a friend reminded me that “feeling lost only means that your life is rearranging itself.”
With that in mind, I went to bed at 11 p.m. instead of 2 a.m. I smiled at the new girl in my class. And I sat down to do homework at the cafe, once again set out to be reborn.
