A Recap of the First Semester of Freshman Year (Part 2)
By: Sydney Henry ‘24
Welcome to Part 2 of my recap of the first semester of freshman year. Part 2 of this recap is all about discussing how to deal with the mental and emotional toll this semester has taken on everyone. Between the pandemic, attending Zoom University: USC Edition, and dealing with everything else going wrong, it’s a lot. So how do you stay calm and sane with everything going on?
1. Lean On Your Friends
You aren’t in this alone. Your friends probably feel the same way that you do and it’s nice to vent to each other about what is going on and just let it all out.
My friends and I are comfortable venting to each other all the time, and the flow of conversation between us can sometimes lead to ideas on how to destress and attack the next day a lot better and with more motivation.
2. Recognize When You’ve Met Your Breaking Point
Knowing when you are burnt out and your motivation is gone is a sign that you’ve met or are close to meeting your breaking point. In order to regain that motivation, you need to take a step back, take an effective and relaxing break, and then reevaluate your plan on how to continue your work while making sure to avoid getting to that breaking point again.
3. Learn How to Separate School Life from Regular Life
This one somewhat relates back to the previous tip, but try your best to draw a clear line between what’s included in your school life and what’s included in your regular life, so you can have a good balance between the two.
Most of the time school life takes over regular life which isn’t all that great. School life is usually a non-stop 24/7 grind with no room for error, while regular life is relaxation, doing things for fun, and escaping from school life. Without balance, a 50/50 split between the two, several breakdowns are guaranteed to occur.
4. Use USC’s Counseling and Mental Health Services
I personally haven’t tried this out myself, as I recently just discovered it, but the website goes into detail about the different services that are offered and how they can be beneficial to students. Group counseling, in addition to one-on-one appointments with counselors are among some of the services they offer. Mental health is key to surviving school and nourishing it rather than neglecting it is the way to go.
5. Remember That You Are Meant to Be Here
Whenever I was overly frustrated and felt a breakdown coming on, I started to think that maybe I wasn’t meant to be here and I only got into USC by pure luck. It took a lot of effort on my part and constant reassurance from my friends to remember that I worked hard to get here and I should never downplay that effort or success.
You are meant to be here. You did work hard to get here and shouldn’t downplay the work that you put in. It may seem really rough right now and it’s definitely okay to yell, cry, or do anything else to let all that frustration out. But, pushing yourself, just enough, to get everything done and reach that end goal is worth all of it.
There will definitely be both ups and downs with every semester that comes. Just remember when a rough path comes that you got this and you are meant to be here. Hope you guys enjoyed this post. As always #FightOn!
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