Now that I am about to start my sophomore year at Arizona State, I have really reflected on the past school year. One major topic that comes to mind is the change of appearance my body has had. I always asked myself questions like, "Why did my body change so fast?" and "I go to the gym, why isn't anything changing?" These questions guided me to have negative thoughts about myself, which was not healthy.
Let me give you a little background of what I was doing before college. I was the kid that did literally everything! I mean every club, every sport, honors, you name it. I have always been a type of person who needed things to do, if I had nothing I would feel unimportant so I just always kept my self busy. Everyone always asked how I did it, how I managed everything and honestly, I just had a planner and made sure everything was in it. Because I was so busy all the time the majority of it being athletic I always had a good body. I mean, I didn't even have to go to the gym because I was already working out in my activities.
Being athletic in high school helped a lot, but the stress in high school is a lot different than in college.
Don't get me wrong I would be stressed, but really it wasn't as bad as I thought it was at the time. Stress can really affect the body, and any college student will tell you, especially the first semester, that it's painful. College stress is a different type of stress. It will take so much physically and mentally away from you leaving you with nothing. It's not just stress from school and academics. You now have to worry about being homesick, finding a new group of friends, providing for yourself. All these things you didn't have to worry as much before. I remember not knowing if I would be able to even eat after classes.
College food and prices are ridiculous. I mean most, if not all, college students don't eat healthily and the prices of things are really expensive — including cooking for yourself. The first year, most students stay in a dorm. In my dorm, we had a community kitchen, so you can probably assume I didn't use it. I didn't even have time to cook I either went to the dining hall with bad food or ate a snack in my dorm. It was not very nutritious which caused a pretty big change in my appearance no matter how much I worked out.
Instead of being obsessed with how you look, and why nothing is working, try to better habits and your mental status, and I promise you will start to see change and become more healthy.
Health is not just a physical thing it's an emotional thing as well. I'm excited for this new school year to come along so I can practice being healthy for my body and mental sake, and I encourage you to do the same. The “Freshman 15" is a thing, but it's more than just gaining weight it's about the first semester or even year in college. It is where you have to adapt to a new environment. It's about self-control, and most importantly it's about that first major step to adulthood that we usually get thrown into. Don't be afraid to admit that it's happening or it happened to you, it's life and we all handle it differently. Just take a step back, breathe, and everything will fall into place.
