As I’m sure most people know by now, I’m basically living independently this summer as I intern with a community development organization in a town near Princeton. I go grocery shopping, I take public transit to and from work, I’m responsible for basic human functionality, hell, I even spend my weekends working on “personal development”— something I envisioned was going to be full of me revising my own poetry, eating fancy brunches that I cooked by myself and going to bed early to rejuvenate myself for the work week. Of course, “personal development” very easily became me sleeping in until 1 o’clock in the afternoon, waking up, eating the first thing I set my eyes upon and then binge-watching "Grey’s Anatomy" on my computer all day until I got hungry. Then I would order way too much Domino’s pizza for one person and die inside out of a loss of self-respect.
Look, I’m not going to even romanticize how I will spend my time in the coming weeks. My idealistic plans very quickly wore down and fell apart, and here I am trying to march forth with as much dignity as I can muster. I have a theory, however. Because I was so idealistic about my summer plans, about using it as a time to “truly better” myself, I overlooked the little details in order to pull together this giant plan, and it’s those little details that unraveled my plans. However, I refuse to act as though I should have known these things because we only find them out through trial and error. Here are five of those little things that I have quickly learned along the way.
1. The work week quickly takes a toll on you.
Especially if you’re used to going to bed late after working on homework well into 2 a.m. and waking up at 9 a.m. (at best) to make it to your early French class. Now, I have to wake up well before 6 a.m., and I still haven’t gotten the hang of going to bed early (oops), so you can imagine that by 4 p.m. on Friday, my body is literally drained of any and all energy. This results in me usually crashing when I get home and not waking up until Saturday afternoon.
2. Things rarely ever go the way you think they will.
Yeah, this one should have really been foreseen. However, I thought that if I marched in and took control of my own independence, perhaps everything would work the exact way I planned it. However, this seriously has maybe happened twice in the past four weeks. Nothing ever happens the way I plan it, and I’ve never been good with “going with the flow,” but I’m trying to take Dory’s advice.
3. You don’t have spices or condiments for meals.
Yeah, this one was really unexpected. I went grocery shopping for my first week, and I suddenly realized I had no spices to make my food. Having been a cook for 11 years of my life, I was disgusted with myself when I sauteed chicken without lemon pepper or even garlic. It’s a cruel world out there, everyone. Stay safe. Remember to buy garlic and other basic spices.
Here's a reaction gif of me after I bought spices:
4. There’s no end in sight when it comes to "marathon"-ing Netflix.
Quitting is for losers! Keep pushing because there’s no end in sight!
....OK, so maybe you should always practice moderation, but with no one to "Netflix shame" you, it’s really hard to stop. Oh oops, did I just watch all of "Bob’s Burgers" in two days? Looks like I need to find another shamefully funny cartoon made for adults just like me who haven’t quite grown up yet (or showered in a few days).
5. The suddenly nonexistent social life.
It takes a toll. After having spent my first year of college surrounded by people,constantly, even when I didn’t want to be, it’s hard transitioning to a state where I have to go seek out others to hang out around. I’ve found myself sitting in random parks and coffee shops in order to perhaps persuade others to talk to me, but I’ve seemed to have forgotten that you have to talk to others in order to truly start a conversation. Thanks, college.
