The 100th-day mark: eight lessons from my first on-campus college semester.
I belong to the micro-generation for whom the pandemic engulfed the bridging months of high school to college transition in static timelessness. When the world caught on to covid-19, at the beginning of my sophomore year of college, and established the new normal, I was dumbfounded. I felt like a late teen cosplaying as an early adult, transplanted into a unique environment, fumbling his steps and crossing his fingers for a miracle.
This puzzling state of duality pushed me to the extremes of my comfort zone personally, academically, and professionally. It also equipped me with eight findings that I translated into life lessons, funneling personal experience into objective insight. Why eight? Because stopping at seven irks me.
Lesson #1: time management is where success starts. Whether you’re taking a timed test of 60 minutes or planning a research paper of two weeks, managing your time is essential. I’ve explored a galore of intuitive digital tools like Notion and Evernote and multiple strategies like the Pomodoro technique but found no one-size-fits-all solution. Instead of restricting myself to a millionaire’s unrealistic daily habits that start with a 6 AM cold shower and hot yoga, I modified readymade tools and the tips plastered all over the internet to fit my daily flow of productivity.
Lesson #2: financial planning is a necessary evil. Whether you’re Kylie Jenner or a broke college student living off of ramen noodles, you should track your spending habits. I enjoy bullet journaling, so I created a section in my journal to note and categorize my overall weekly expenditures. However, financial tracking can be as simple as writing down purchases in a Notes app. Cutting down on unnecessary purchases that I otherwise wouldn’t have noticed if not for my journal allowed me to treat myself at the end of the semester.
Lesson #3: it does take a village. Adulting is often a solo quest, yet it can’t always be. Investing time and effort in a support system goes a long way in keeping you sane and grounded. In a pandemic that has made all genuine human connections a rare currency, leaning on your loved ones for consolation or simply sharing your small successes with friends and mentors is a true gift.
Lesson #4: expectations are premeditated resentments. The current reality is capable of throwing your way numerous curveballs at any given second. The better you become at embracing all unexpected twists and turns of fate, the more at peace you’ll be. Even if every external circumstance matches your expectations, there will always be something to critique. Thus the best strategy is to have no fixed expectations for the world, plan all you want, then adjust your plans to roll with the punches.
Lesson #5: setting boundaries is crucial. Even if you have endless time and energy, your emotional capacity is finite, so learn to set boundaries that protect it. Setting boundaries can sound anything like “sorry, I am not available” or “I know I agreed to that, but I can’t find the energy for it anymore” or my personal favorite: “It is not my job to worry over that’’.
Lesson #6: those who push the hardest against your boundaries are often the ones who benefit the most from you not having any. Setting and keeping boundaries can be uncomfortable, but it is part of the process.
Lesson #7: you sometimes cannot control how others perceive you: this was a hard pill to swallow. Yet understanding that my actions and values are not tainted with the image anyone projects onto me brought me peace. People will project their insecurities onto you, and you can’t let that get to you.
Lesson #8: resilience is a skill best practiced when you’re down on your luck. My favorite compliment I received this semester is that I am resilient. Resilience to me means the ability to persist in your quest despite setbacks, doubts, and failure. To fall apart at the seams now and then is human, but to pick yourself back up and sew stronger seams is divine.