It is no doubt that freshman year was a blast (like OMG freedom). We were free to do anything we wanted, free to sleep at that cute boy's room any day of the week, free to wear that scandalous shirt you bought in spite of what your mom said, free to eat Coco Puff’s not only for breakfast, but lunch and dinner. Basically, freshman year was the time of your life. Maybe your grades were not the best you ever earned, but putting school on the line was worth every second.
But now it's sophomore year. You worked your butt off all summer earning money you spent freshman year and here we are, two months into school. How do you feel? Are you pleased with what you have accomplished? Have you set goals and reached them? Have you been working and earning money? Are you getting good grades? Have you met the perfect boyfriend? Are you pleased with who you’re rooming with next year? Are you waking up at 8 a.m. on the weekend to go hiking instead of being hungover all day?
If you answered no to any of these questions, well I can relate and I am sure other sophomores can, as well. This may be due to an undefined condition called *dun dun dun* THE SOPHOMORE SLUMP!
This condition is very real and we all have been there, at some point or another, in a slump. But here are the tell-tale signs that this slump is not just an ordinary lapse of energy, but something much more serious.
1.You’re downright exhausted...all the time.
All you want to do is sleep. You dream of sleeping during class. This morning you set your alarm for 8 a.m. to go to the gym before your class at 10, but you shamelessly pressed snooze instead. On Saturday you slept from noon to 4 p.m. And guess what? You regret nothing.
2. You miss your mom more than ever.
Who doesn’t miss watching endless housewives marathons and eating Edy’s Slow Churned Chocolate Brownie ice cream? And what about those nail salon dates where she paid for your manicure AND pedicure? You would KILL to have some precious mama-time.
3. You are also starting to act like your mom.
Don’t deny it. You had a glass of wine last Tuesday at 7 p.m. and have started craving red instead of white. It’s fine. We must accept that yes, we are too starting to turn into our wonderful mothers.
4. You have questioned your future maybe 17 times now.
Sitting in chem class thinking: “God this is hard. Am I going to pass this? Why am I in this class? Why am I here? Is college really going to help me? Should I just move to Hawaii, surf all day and live off the land?" And then you remember that this course is a requirement and you have to take a step back, breathe, and tell yourself "You can do this!" You try to convince yourself that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
5. You can’t stop reminiscing about your freshman bae.
He was so cute. You guys got along so well. Where did he go? Why don’t you guys talk anymore? Yet we find comfort in the fact that sophomore year we have become more sophisticated and we no longer need to behave like freshman. Bae will come around, maybe not now, but we have all the time in the world to just be patient.
6. You have started doing “you” things.
You took that day off from classes just for you and went downtown and drank a latte. Not just a latte, but a fancy latte. The ones with little designs at the top (you may have instagrammed it). And then you may have gotten that large chocolate chip cookie. We are now coming into our twenties. It is time to start slowing down and taking care of ourselves. So we go ahead and learn to make pottery, take that class we’ve been dying to take, and go to that concert downtown on a Wednesday night. Being a sophomore means treating yourself because we are now realizing that at the end of the day all we have is our happiness.
7. You do not care what people think of you on-campus anymore. Pretty much anything goes.
Last year, you worked on your outfit for like an hour before you left your dorm. This year, you get your statistics grade back in class and shamelessly start bawling your eyes out after you leave class. You also may have worn your “nice” sweatpants to class on Monday and Friday. This just means we are more comfortable with ourselves and our surroundings, right?
8. You stayed in the past three Saturday nights.
You watched two movies and ordered Thai food, but it was all worth it because you were with your besties. Who needs to drink both Friday and Saturday night anyways? That was for wild freshman year. Sophomore year we may not be partying as much (or meeting bae) but on the bright side we are now more up to date with the 863 to-go menu, as well as more in tune with all of our friends deep secrets that we have learned from staying in all these Saturday nights.
If you can relate to any of these points, I will not guilt you by denouncing the Sophomore Slump. Instead I will say, I get it! I get you! And I bet a million others can relate as well. As the cast of "High School Musical" would say “We are all in this together!” Now go on, start embracing the slump. LEARN from the slump. Take baby steps, and you will get out of this alive. Trust me when I say you are going to turn out just fine.
