This school year, I'm a junior in college (which is still really hard to believe) and I'm leaving in a few days to study abroad in London for a semester. I have the same feelings I did when I first left for college my freshman year; I'm nervous to start something new, but I'm also weirdly excited to start all over again and to have new experiences with new people. Because of this, I wanted to make a list of all the things I want to remind myself to do, not just this semester, but the whole school year and on. Hopefully, this will be something I can look back on and say it helped me to open up and grow, and maybe it can help some of you too.
1. Try new things
The most important thing to me this year is to experience new things, and to not get trapped in a routine out of comfort. I've found it's so easy to become stagnant in life when you're comfortable with the flow of your daily routine and I think it's important to remember if you don't push yourself out of your comfort zone and try new things, you'll never grow. Even if it's scary at first (and it probably will be), your future self will be thankful you made that change.
2. Don't be held back by fear
This is connected to my first point, I don't want the fear of trying new things to hold me back from doing things that scare me, but will ultimately be good for me. I feel like this is something that holds a lot of people back; whether it's the fear of failure, success, or the fear of what other people think of you, none of this stuff really matters in the long run. It's better to do something you're afraid of, rather than regret not doing it.
3. Go after what I want
I want to be open to more opportunities, and actually go after what I want. Now that I'm writing these points out, I'm realizing the first three are all centered around the same idea of not being afraid to try new things, and not standing in your own way. You'll never get what you want if you don't make an effort to go after it.
4. Procrastinate less
Something I do all the time, even while writing this, is procrastinate on doing my work. This year, I want to have a better work ethic, and put more effort into everything I do.
5. Have fun and live in the moment
One thing to always remember is to not dwell on the past. That's something I've been guilty of doing a lot - looking back and wishing things were the way they used to be. It's okay to be nostalgic about things, but I think it's also important to realize where you are right now is good, too (you'll probably be looking back at it one day), and to just make the most of every moment you're in.
6. Be open to new opportunities
Lastly, coming back to my first three points, I just want to be open to new opportunities that come my way. Sometimes I feel like it's so easy to shoot down opportunities out of fear, or because you don't think you're good enough, or even because you believe you're too good for it. I want to say yes to more opportunities in my life.
To anyone who's starting something new, or is just looking for a good change in life, I hope this list helped you, too.
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