The "Sophomore Slump" is an endless, debilitating cycle that is only made worse by the sights of your peers achieving the successes that you feel you should be achieving alongside them. It creeps in during spring semester of your sophomore year and, if you let it, can end up staying and corrupting the rest of your college career. Those sights often come in the form of a Facebook post; so often, in fact, that I found myself staying off of Facebook altogether to avoid seeing the long statuses full of congratulations' in the comments.
I found myself overwhelmed with the thought of being "behind," so to speak. I didn’t understand why everybody else seemed to be achieved over a 4.0 GPA, securing multiple internships and excelling in every aspect of their college-driven lives. It only made my “slump” worse, making me feel as though there was no point in trying so hard if I was only going to be the one person who struggled.
It ended up taking me the entire spring semester, as well as this summer, to finally realize that not everybody is on the same track in life as I am; even if they are the same year as me. I’ve also come to realize that I am not the only college student affected by this weakening mindset. Just because we may both be sophomores, or juniors, or seniors doesn’t mean we need to be securing internships during the same summer. Your one peer who is on Dean’s List and has five internships to choose from isn’t better than you in any shape or form. Different people bring different personalities, talents and star power to the table.
What that one peer lacks in, you may excel in.
It takes a lot (and trust me, I know) to keep your mind from wandering into the lives of others. When it wanders is when you will falter on the line between motivation and the “slump”. When you can bring yourself to stay inside your own head, you will begin to realize how important it is to simply worry about yourself. Be selfish, ignore others. What they are doing with their lives doesn’t matter; what matters is what you are doing with yours.
The “slump” is dismal; it’s unavoidable. But what you can avoid is letting it completely consume your life. Coming from somebody who fell so deep into the “slump” that I nearly gave up, it’s easier to overcome when you begin to focus on, and take care of, yourself. Remind yourself how transparent grades are; one, two, or five bad grades do not mean you’re a bad student.
People naturally only want to brag about the good in their lives and never the bad. Don’t let other people’s successes distract you from your own.
