Congratulations! You've made it a year into college. Now what? For many college sophomores, this is the time when you ask yourself, "what the hell am I doing?". It can seem pretty overwhelming for a lot of college students because this is when we start our major classes and getting into our future goals. There may be things you want to join that you didn't freshman year, plans you want to make for the next couple years, and things you need to start to make those plans happen. It might feel like a time bomb is ticking.
If you're anything like me, an ambitious "freak," I feel you. I definitely have things I want to do within the next three years of college and I can't just sit on my bed and watch the world go by while I'm afraid of taking the next steps and getting out of my comfort zone a bit. That's one part of it.
In college, in order to be a part of things, you have to put yourself out there. I understand how it can make a lot of new college students feel a bit anxious and scared because it's a whole new scene of people that you're not used to. One of the ways I look at it is, "who cares?" The fact that no one knows your life story, makes it even more reassuring that there won't be any judgement...right? At least that's what I think.
Whether you want to join a new club, audition for a music group, apply for a job, or anything else, you need to apply yourself and try it out. It's always worth trying, applying, and trying again. I think you'll regret it if you don't. You might even meet new people along the way.
I don't mean to scare anyone off from trying new things—that's not the point. However, I have definitely felt like I need to start pushing some things that I want to achieve while I'm at school. It's hard for me to stay motivated and focused at times, so this year needs to change.
Use Your Resources
One way of starting this change is by going to see your advisor. It's always a great idea to get a different perspective on things and to talk out your goals with him/her in order to start on the right track that's best for you. A lot of people do not take advantage of the great resources they have, and I would highly recommend emailing and setting up an appointment with them. My advisor, who's a rockstar behind the scenes, has given me connections to many helpful resources on campus and has helped prepared me for things I want to get done before I graduate.
Get More Involved
Another way of tackling things is to get more involved, meeting more people, and networking. Now, not many of us have the desire or need to get more involved, and that's totally okay. I would recommend visiting your college's involvement fair and at least signing up for a couple organizations or clubs that interest you. If it didn't work out freshman year and nothing looked good, come with an open mind, find out more information, and just go to a meeting. You never know, maybe acapella was something you were destined for, or even a service institution would bring you closer to more people and the community.
There's no harm in trying new things at college.
I felt like last year I never stepped out and explored enough. Freshmen, though, also need time to adjust so I don't want new students to feel like they have to overload their busy schedules either. I was also figuring things out and this year I am more confident in myself about the things I truly want to be apart of. Getting too involved can set yourself up for disaster. I would rather be passionately involved in a few clubs than loosely involved in many clubs. The great thing is, if a club or organization is not for you, you are allowed to leave. Life happens and people can get over it.
Pace Yourself
Sometimes the best way to find opportunities is to stop looking for them. Yeah. That's what I said. When you are too focused on finding extracurriculers or resume builders, you lose focus of school work and the reason you're at college—to learn and earn a degree. There are so many great opportunities at college that come when you are least expecting them to, so go with the flow.
The best things come when you continue to focus on your top priorities with an open mind. Sometimes planning everything makes us expect to gain a certain goal or objective, but the reality is that we need room for change and that is totally okay. Take a deep breath, and stop thinking about what everyone else is doing.
Not everybody's college experience is or will be the same. We all have our own ways of moving about the world, so why worry about others? Comparing your college experience to someone else's will only set you up for a more stressful year.
Explore Your Purpose
College is here for you to explore new things and explore new things about yourself. If we all had the same exact experience at college, what fun would that be? Different intellectual minds coming together, sharing new ideas, learning various perspectives, and seeing the world in another point of view is what college, at least to me, has shown.
Whether you are a new student, or a frantic sophomore, or even an upperclassmen, I want you to know that everything will work out just fine. If you take the steps outside of your comfort zone a bit, reach out for help, utilize resources on campus, pace yourself, and go with the flow, you will find that not everyone is trying to "beat you" or "show up" your college experience.
Your college experience is what you make of it.
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It's that time of year again in Chicago when the weather gets even more unpredictable and the fashion gets even more confusing. One day it feels like the middle of July and the next feels like the middle of crisp November. My favorite part of back to school, as most peoples are, is the much needed back-to-school shop.
A lot of my friends know that I love getting things ready for school and my wardrobe being one of them. New shoes and jeans are always at the top of my list because I wear them both on the daily. What can I say? American Eagle jeans are my go-to.
One of my favorite picks this season are these Vans Ultrarange Rapidweld casual sneakers in the color desert sage. First of all, this faded mint green has got me feelin a type of way. It reminds me of the sage I saw when I visited the Grand Tetons over the summer and I just drooled when I saw these. Funny enough, I saw them on a girl while we were at the airport waiting to go on our trip.
They are the perfect casual walking shoe and I've never owned anything like them. Neither have I had a color like this in my shoe collection. I have wider feet, so I would recommend sizing up a half size, but other than that they have been the most comfortable shoes to wear to class and around the city.
I am also feeling these taupe jeggings I bought from American Eagle and these are the Ne(X)t Level Low-Rise Jegging and they are just as soft and stretchy as they proclaim. You really can't go wrong with American Eagle's jean selection and they have an abundance of sizes, styles, and washes for everyone. They're a mandatory back-to-school stop for me.
That's right, I am on the scrunchie bandwagon and I am loving it. Everyone I know is obsessing over these 90 themed hair accessories for quite a while and I just had to get on it. These are from Urban Outfitters and are the Days of the Week Scrunchies. They're awesome to hold your hair up in a cute bun or even to just wear on your wrist. I always have one somewhere around.
What is your back-to-school fashion essential?
Living in the midst of the digital age has its ups and downs. We get to be with people and connected almost immediately at the touch of our buttons. You can say hello to literally anybody. Find out any information you want and—you've heard it all before.
About a week ago, I woke up to a very inconvenient misfortune that a lot of people are dealing with or have dealt with right now—being hacked.
Hacked.
Now I may sound a bit dramatic, but it's been awhile since my personal accounts have been compromised. I know I was hacked because a common trend among these hackers are when they are hacking people's Instagram accounts and changing the emails and some profiles, luckily mine was not. So that was a fun thing to wake up to.
I've gone through all the emailing and trying to contact Instagram, and I'm sure they're aware that this is happening to a majority of users, but it seems like they just don't care unless you're a verified public figure or influenser. So my schedule has been a bit crazy dealing with moving back into school and this is the last thing I wanted to deal with. Which, I feel like is understandable.
I have now since made a new Instagram @natrohman, not @natalierohman, because I have no access to my other account. I went through the two-factor verification process to ensure my account stays secure and I wish I could have known about that before it all happened.
Now I have a blank account and am starting from scratch. Zero followers and all. However, since this all went down, I have not once felt the desire or urge to get back into Instagram. I've honestly enjoyed this break from it and not worrying about who has posted what. I'd say my presence on social media is very regular and going into college without that has made things a bit more free flowing. I'm not worried about who's where or doing what. Not saying I won't be on it anymore, but it has been second nature for me to be on my phone all the time.
I have talked to some of my friends about the issue and ranted to them about losing all my "followers" and worrying about a hacker posting random things on my profile, but I've realized that it all doesn't matter.
Cue Gushiness
Cue Gushiness
No matter the followers or likes you have, you cannot be defined by something as superficial as a number on your profile, salary number, price tag, scale number, or any other number. At the end of the day, I still have those relationships with people that are the most important in my life. Instagram isn't going to leave. People are going to be on it all the time and they probably won't miss me. There are so many other interesting people on Instagram (hate to break it to you).
Ten years from now, my Instagram followers won't effect the person I want to become and the things I want to do. People my age get so caught up in developing a following and creating an "image" for themselves—for other people to perceive them as.
We curate ourselves to be our best selves online.
I don't know if this hacking was really a bad thing. Besides the fact that my personal information was taken away from me, it was time for me to realize that there is so much more to life than living behind filters and screens. The moments I experience and memories I create don't always have to be shared to everybody because those are special to me.
I don't want this post to resonate badly in regards to my views of using social media or others using it, but I also want it to be a post where you can reflect on your own usage or over usage of it. Does being on social media sites really spark joy in your life? How much do you depend on it? Does validation from your peers make you a better person or is it valued to you more introspectively?
I know I don't get many views on my blog, but that doesn't justify the work and effort I put into it. I do it for myself, as well. I try to be a better writer, content creator, and a story teller every day. However, counting our likes and followers can sway our views of ourselves and make us compare our worthiness to other people. To me, that sounds like digging yourself into a deep, dark hole. If there's anything I want you to really take away from this it is that you cannot allow others to define who you are or what you want to become.
Ten years from now, my Instagram followers won't effect the person I want to become and the things I want to do. People my age get so caught up in developing a following and creating an "image" for themselves—for other people to perceive them as.
We curate ourselves to be our best selves online.
I don't know if this hacking was really a bad thing. Besides the fact that my personal information was taken away from me, it was time for me to realize that there is so much more to life than living behind filters and screens. The moments I experience and memories I create don't always have to be shared to everybody because those are special to me.
I don't want this post to resonate badly in regards to my views of using social media or others using it, but I also want it to be a post where you can reflect on your own usage or over usage of it. Does being on social media sites really spark joy in your life? How much do you depend on it? Does validation from your peers make you a better person or is it valued to you more introspectively?
I know I don't get many views on my blog, but that doesn't justify the work and effort I put into it. I do it for myself, as well. I try to be a better writer, content creator, and a story teller every day. However, counting our likes and followers can sway our views of ourselves and make us compare our worthiness to other people. To me, that sounds like digging yourself into a deep, dark hole. If there's anything I want you to really take away from this it is that you cannot allow others to define who you are or what you want to become.
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