COMING BACK TO UNIVERSITY AFTER A SEMESTER OFF

It's my seventh week back at my university and things are okay, I say cautiously. But seriously though, I'm adjusting a lot better than I thought I would. I know that I was only gone for one semester so really, I shouldn't be that out of touch with how things are at university. And it wasn't even a proper semester off since I was still in school, just at community college. But considering how I've had been having a hard time since pretty much my first semester at uni, I feel like the way I'm doing things now is how I should have been doing things from the very beginning. Of course, that makes sense because I've learned what works and what doesn't work. But I also think that there are other factors that play into why I'm a lot more successful and comfortable in uni this time around.

Living off campus: Being a commuter last spring semester was really good for me. Like, really good. I was able to separate school with my home life and I wasn't constantly feeling the pressures of school life. Now that I'm living off campus, I feel so much better about uni. My brain isn't constantly thinking that it's at school and that it's just school, school, school all the time. Sometimes when I have so many things to do, instead of working on them, I just shut down and do nothing. Having my own space away from school gives my brain a break and allows me to actually think.

Being reminded of what I want: I know that I could have easily done this in the previous semesters, but during the spring semester and during summer I was constantly reminded about the things that I want and the goals I want to achieve. And it wasn't just me telling reminding myself of those things, I was things around me that reminded me. Things like British Vogue's documentary serious "Future of Fashion", which gave an inside look of the different parts of the fashion industry. My internship over summer was also a huge reminder. It gave a little taste of what I would be doing if I got it together and worked harder towards my goals.

Using a little imagination for motivation: Now that I'm back at uni, I do my work as if I'm working at Teen Vogue and that Elaine Welteroth is going to be checking over everything. Silly, I know, but affected. Or studying as if I'm at Hogwarts and I'm Hermione Granger or at Chilton and I'm Rory having to deal with Paris. Basically, I think about the women that I look up to and see as good role models and think about what they would do if they were in my situation.

Seventh week of university. About nine more to go. I'm more optimistic now than I was before but we'll see how things go.

iscelle robee