I
wish every week was fall break.
Unfortunately, it’s only this week, BUT
I am so excited to sit down and talk to you guys. I realized that I’m halfway through my first
semester of college (which is crazy) and I haven’t given you an update of how it’s
going, so I thought I would do that today.
Many people have been asking (and by many people I mean like 5) how I’m
adjusting to this new lifestyle, so that’s what I’m going to be talking about in
this post.
I had a rough start. I’m not going to candy coat any part of this
because I want to be real. I sort of expected
the change wouldn’t be easy, but those first few weeks I felt like I was being
thrown into an unfamiliar ocean and had to figure out how to swim. Eventually I did figure it out, otherwise I wouldn’t
be sitting here telling you this. Needless
to say, I had a very difficult time getting started. I wasn’t prepared for how much time I would
spend on homework and how hard it would be to just find some sort of a balance
between school, work, and having a social life.
This semester I am taking 15 credit
hours, which I feel is about the average course load. The way my school does classes, there are 8-week
classes and 16-week classes. It’s
honestly all very confusing, but to sum it up, 8-week classes are basically 16-week
classes done in 8 weeks, which also means twice the amount of homework. I would say I spend about 8-10 hours on
homework a week, depending on how much work there is/what the assignments
are. It’s very difficult to tell exactly
how much time I spend on it because my days are full of other things. On top of sitting in class for 15 hours a
week, I’ve also been working 15 and a half hours each week.
It’s
a lot. That’s why I’m so happy I can
slow down and breathe this week.
I actually don’t mind staying
busy. I’ve developed a pretty consistent
routine, which is what I lacked in the beginning. I’m the type of person who must follow their
routines, otherwise I don’t know what to do with myself. Routines are a huge part of my life. It took me about a month and a half to
develop a solid routine to accommodate my new busy schedule. I made a video on my YouTube channel where I
show you what it’s like to be me for a day.
You can check that video out here.
I think one of the biggest things
that’s kept me on track (besides lots of coffee) is staying healthy, mentally
and physically. I use the tips I talked
about in my last post almost daily and I’m way less stressed when I have my
life planned and organized. I’ve been
doing my best to become a morning person (still working on that part of my new
routine) so I can get up, go to the gym, and then come back and get some tasks
knocked out before I have to go to class or work. I’ve also been trying to stay on a healthy
diet. This isn’t easy because I don’t
have a lot of time to make good healthy meals.
I try not to eat out more than necessary, and I try to meal prep on
Sundays so I can just grab and go during the week. I think for me, staying healthy is super
important to being successful.
On the upside of things, I am truly
thriving. I don’t mean that I’m happy
all the time every day, but in general I’m at a good place in life. In college I feel like I’m actually getting
somewhere; I feel like I’m one step closer to where I want to be and sometimes
that’s the only motivation factor that keeps me going. When times get rough, I have to stop and
think about how far I’ve come already and stay focused on my goals and what I
have to do to get there. Sometimes it’s
difficult to stay focused, sometimes I question what it is that I’m really
working towards, and sometimes I just want to quit. When that happens, I remind myself how far I’ve
come and that I’m on the right path to where I want to be.
No one ever said college is
easy. Because it’s not. It’s hard, it’s stressful, and it’s honestly.
just. exhausting. But I know that I’m
doing the right thing and I’m grateful that I am even able to go get further education. I value education more than almost anything because
I know it’s what will get me to where I want to be in life.
Thank you guys so much for following
along with me throughout this journey and I’ll talk to you in my next post!
