Most of the wisdom you’ll gain is sure to come as a result of new and exciting challenges.
Taking a gap year is easily one of the best ways to gain self-confidence and maturity before beginning a demanding four years as a student. But whatever your plans are before freshman year, here are five tips to take the edge off.
1. Master the Art of Finding Time for Yourself
Between taking classes, writing twenty page papers, participating in clubs, making new friends, and going out on weekends, it can be hard to carve out quality alone time.
Social life in college is often 24/7, starting in the morning when your roommate insists on telling you about his weekend, continuing throughout the day until the late night cramming session with your study group, and ending as you fall asleep facetiming a high school best friend.
Intentionally planning some daily isolation can do wonders for your mental clarity. Especially in the first year of school, when so much effort goes into first impressions, being alone can be relaxing and rejuvenating. When campus life gets overwhelming, one of the best things you can do is overcoming the wrath of #FOMO.
Take a run, watch a show, make some art – if even just for a few hours. Then get back out there and make the effort!
2. Don’t Make a Habit of Skipping and Being Late
This one depends a lot on the size of your school. At a huge university, your professor might not notice if you show up to class at all. At a small college, like mine, professors set clear standards for tardiness and attendance.
All it takes is a little humiliation to set a flake on the straight and narrow. I was never late to one particular class again after a very awkward situation involving me getting locked out and having to bang on the door during a professor’s passionate speech on personal accountability, before tip toeing through a maze of people in a tiny room while carrying a 50 pound chair over my head, which of course only fit in the far back corner.
If skipping and being late really are so convenient, consider the true benefits of flaking. Will you actually do the readings and take the notes outside of class? Or are are you just telling yourself you will, until the night before the final when you don’t recognize half the content on the study guide your studious friend just sent you.
Frequently skipping and being late is a bad look. If a class is too early, don’t take it. If a class is too boring, drop it. If it’s required for your major and you hate it, either reconsider your major or knuckle down and stay motivated.
But every now and then, when you’re too cold to get out of bed and the weather’s crap, feel free to turn off your seven subsequent iPhone alarms and roll right back over.