First Week of School Recap

One week in and feeling incredible!!!! I love being back and getting into the grind as well as enjoying my environment, friends, and fun. The first week was a lot, but in a great way. Let’s recap and talk through some things I learned.

I was so thankful to get everything organized and prepped on Sunday for the week. Getting meals, workouts, and scheduling ready before the week was a big help. Not having to think about what I am going to eat and what workout I am going to do helps my brain focus on other tasks like completing assignments and tutoring. Last year I recognized that the hardest part about tutoring wasn’t the act of tutoring itself, rather the scheduling. Having to balance my schedule with six other peoples’ schedules is extremely taxing. To fix this I decided to get a mini notepad calendar dedicated just to tutoring and try to have some of my clients stick to a weekly schedule. I already have noticed this has helped a ton, but this week was packed with tutoring sessions. Monday through Thursday I always know are going to be heavy work days. I try to lock in for most of the week so I can reset during the weekend. By Thursday night I was toast. I really do not want to burn out this semester because it is simply not sustainable and not healthy. With that being said, I slept in on Friday, only had one tutoring session, and did a light load of work. Although this was great, I have realized that I can’t pack everything under the sun into Monday through Thursday because that is also not sustainable. I am working on finding a balance.

My classes are amazing. I am taking a bunch of political science classes, an empire and diplomacy course, math, a data science class, and history. It has been so fun to focus on topics I love, while also trying new things that I’m not used to.

Last year I was so overwhelmed by all of the clubs especially with having multiple jobs, being new on campus, and being in a sorority. That’s why this semester I am making more of an effort to get involved on campus. A lot of the clubs I am interested in are business clubs that require applications and admission. Normally, that would stress me out, possibly to the point where I wouldn’t even try. I have decided to remove the pressure and go for it. It doesn’t hurt to try and I can learn through the experience regardless of if I get in or not. I don’t want the fear of failure to prevent me from taking on new challenges. College is a time to learn and grow and I am trying to soak up every bit of that. It doesn’t matter what age you are, or what stage in life you are at, it is always worth trying something new because life isn’t about being the same all the time.

This semester I have gotten so much better at knowing what is best for me and believing in that. My confidence has grown and I am so happy with the person I have become. There are always times when you start to doubt yourself, what you are doing, and if you are enough, but you have to recenter and breathe the doubt away. It is easy to feel lonely, stressed, overwhelmed, but I remind myself that we are all feeling the same way and we are all doing our best to get through. What is meant for you will come to you and the challenges in your way are there for a reason.

Managing my stress is very important to me because although I thrive off of stress and productivity, I have to make sure I am taking care of myself. More and more, I see that deep down we know what we need, sometimes we hide from it because we are scared or because we don’t want to listen. When we ignore that message, our bodies will make us listen the hard way. Listen the first time. Follow what you need, for you.

Your perception of others’ lives is often extremely skewed. We plant stories in our heads that makes us feel better or worse about ourselves. Instead, try to observe without judgement. Just be. No one is better or worse than anyone else. We are different and that’s what makes the world go round.

I am so excited for what is to come and the things I will learn in this next chapter of my life. So much knowledge to be learned, so much fun to be had. My outlook on everything has been so positive lately. While I tend to be very positive, I feel the optimism permeating all around and within me because of my focus on gratitude. Whenever I stress about school, I remember the gift on knowledge. When I don’t want to workout, I remember the gift of movement. Everything we experience is a gift and an opportunity. I wake up a 6am and instead of feeling tired and annoyed I feel excited to start the day. I rise ready to meditate and calm my mind and exhilarated to workout and get stronger. Each piece of my day has a positive spin.

The positivity will of course ebb and flow and that is normal. We come to a certain part of the day or day of the week and feel as though nothing will be good again. It happens to all of us. Meditation, journaling, a walk, or sometimes a sweet treat help me understand that my thoughts are irrational.

My mom always says, “don’t make your life suck.” And of course, she is so right. There are things we cannot control that may not be preferable, but there are also things we can control and in that sense we must choose wisely what we do with our energy and time.