The college life has certainly been nothing I could have expected. I fully expected to have tons of free time and hardly any homework because that's what high school was like by the end of my Senior year. At college, however, you are expected to do pre-class, post-class, homework, and study. It's certainly been a big change to adjust from a Summer with nothing but down-time, to a Fall with none.
My first couple weeks were very stressful. I felt like I couldn't do anything but study and work on all of my homework. I created a task board out of sticky notes and my cork board. I love how useful it is because it feels great to rip a sticky note off of the board by the end of the week and crumple it up because you finished what you were supposed to before the deadline! This task board is my best friend because it's right there in front of my desk, where I always look-- a constant reminder of how much crap I have to do this week.
My worst fears came true. I got lost. Multiple times. That's okay. I found my way back to class and to my apartment. The scariest part was that I was late to my first ever college class and it started at 12:45, so I didn't have a good excuse. My brother was supposed to pick me up for class (like he said he would half an hour before it started) and he never showed up, so eight minutes before class, I rushed out of my apartment and just kind of followed people into the Smith building and someone redirected me to what room I needed to be in. I had no idea where the Smith building even was, so it was super helpful to kind of just end up there.
Classes here expect a lot of you as an individual. Not only do you need to bring your intelligence to the classroom, but you need to bring your life experiences and your testimony. I'm a little shy when you meet me in person, so it's been quite difficult adjusting to these brand new people. In high school it was a lot easier because you at least knew one other person and were able to slightly crawl out of that shell. At college you're supposed to come to class out of your shell. No comfort zones because we're all brothers and sisters here.
At first everything started to go wrong here, but then after I felt the prompting to start a gratitude journal, everything started to go well. I finally started getting more free time and time to visit with friends and family and get ahead on some of my homework. That says a lot about how important it is to ask for help when you can't accomplish something on your own and be grateful for the help that you receive.
Since using my gratitude journal, I've been given a lot more free time, and was able to decide for myself how to use that time to benefit my life. Luckily, I know my limits and was able to use it in the most efficient way for me. I used that time to spend it with my family, my friends, my man, and to get a little ahead on upcoming classes.
No comments:
Post a Comment