I am trying out this new section for the first time, so we’ll see what the end result looks like. 🙂

With this year beginning with me in the second semester of high school, I believe this year started off really well for all aspects of my life. I felt comfortable in my high school community, built a support network with my peers from all grades, was able to accomplish many academic achievements, along with being able the first individual of my family to graduate high school. It was a phenomenal feat, and I am quite proud of what I was able to accomplish.

During the summer, I continued on with my service-oriented personality and volunteered with many organizations and events in my local area. I had a record amount of journal entries during this summer, where over half of the total amount of entries were all written in the months of July and August. I was very content with the way I was experiencing life during the summer months, as I was very positive and enthusiastic. I have a chart in an app called Daylio, which I input a daily entry of how I am feeling. Overall, my chart showed I was in the “good” and “rad” categories all the time.

And as an individual who finds it difficult to adapt to change, the first two months of university was quite a blow to my mental health, morality, positivity, and my Daylio chart. To be very honest, my first week of university was VERY difficult to go through. I printed out all the syllabi for all my courses, wrote down all the term tests and assignment deadlines in my agenda, and it almost filled every available day in my calendar. On top of the fact of attempting to be proactive and get ahead of the game by reading my textbooks, my mental health was at its lowest I have ever experienced.

To paint a picture of my first week, my schedule was MWRF 9AM=5PM and T 9:30Am-6PM. During the times I was not in lecture, I spent all my breaks at the library attempting to get ahead and be “proactive” by reading my textbooks and diligently taking notes. I was so dedicated to my academics that I forgot to eat lunch twice that week (which meant that I ate breakfast at 6:30AM, and didn’t eat until 3PM or so), and as a result, I started to burn out, felt dizzy, and was more fatigued (go figure). What was my point of realization that this was NOT a healthy thing to be doing was at the end of that week. I was eating dinner, not tasting anything, and stared blankly at the wall in front of me. At the end of the meal, I knew I needed to change. This was NOT going to be sustainable for me.

And so, this began a long process of trial and error of juggling the following responsibilities: attending labs, writing up lab assignments, completing small assignments that add up with my five courses, keeping up with lectures and lecture notes, maintaining my social relationships with others, figuring out an optimal time for lunch every day, keeping in touch with my family, hygiene, and most importantly, sleep. I am proud that I continued to maintain my sleep schedule, because sleep is SO important!!

Because my first term of university is mainly a transition period, I was more easy on myself (which is not hard to do!) because I recognized the necessity of figuring out how to smoothly transition into a new environment, with the long-term goal of thriving once I ser the solid foundation of how t otackle this new environment with new people, new professors, new responsibilities as a student, new freedoms, and new social order.

I found that isolation is something that is more common in university than you might think. Now, you may not equate the two together during your decision for post-secondary, but in my experiences, it is VERY independent. Lectures are times for note-taking and not socializing, hallways are where people speedily get to their lectures in the 10-mintue break period, not many people greet themselves in the hallways like they do in high school, and you donèt see many people you know…unless you have the same classes together. Otherwise, you most likely will not see your high school friends. For example, I saw a high school friend for the first time (after orientation) in NOVEMBER.

So some tips that I have found useful in my time during the first semester is the following:

1) Step out of your comfort zone! Take the initiative to make new friends in lab, lecture, or elsewhere. A support system is vital to ensure you are the best you can be. I have told many others that I believe that maintaining relationships and health (mental and physical) are AT PAR with maintaining your academics. It’s not a joke.

2) You are your own individual, which comes with new freedoms, but also new responsibilities. This may come as a surprise, but when you’re in university, you are your own person! Which means your decisions have a LOT more weight than in the past. There is no one to keep you accountable, so it’s up to you.

3) Take it easy on yourself! Allow yourself to adjust and transition properly the first time.

4) Experience is the only true answer. As much as you want to prepare for this transition, nothing can prepare you. You will need to experience it yourself to figure out what’s best for you. And coming from someone who plans a LOT and wants to be proactive, trust me, this is something you will have to experience to have a grasp on what to do.

At the end of my semester, I can say that I have adjusted well into the university environment. After a tumultuous September and October, November and December smoothened out and things got a lot better. And I know that this will continue into the Winter term, save for a few occasional highs and lows.