The first semester of my college career, I was unbelievably comfortable in my new environment. I joined a sorority, made new friends, enjoyed my classes, created both cringeworthy and sentimental memories. But as the second semester began, I was overwhelmed by homesickness, schoolwork and anxiety; I felt trapped in a place that I loved so much, and it terrified me.
As my second semester as a sophomore has gotten underway, I have had similar issues. There is always a sense of never being caught up, as though I am simply keeping my head above water for as long as possible, with the drowning waves of deadlines and commitments looming just beneath my neck. This was exacerbated by illness, which forced me to just stop my constant movement and take a few days of rest. It was horrible for my Type A self, but it also served a very important purpose for my mental health throughout the semester: you come first.
During both my freshman and now my sophomore years, my mental and physical health took a backseat to my need to be on top of everything all the time, to take on more than I can chew, to be involved and active and great at everything that I do. It required (on both occasions) a complete breakdown, either of my mind or my body, for me to finally sit down and evaluate the way I was handling my situation. It made me realize that as much as I wanted to stretch myself thin, to try everything, to be good at everything -- none of that was possible if I was barely able to keep myself alive and well.
I've also learned that the second-semester slump is normal. It happens to nearly everyone, especially your freshman year, especially when you're trying to do three hundred things and you can only really do two hundred well. Take care of yourself first. Make sure you're not simply surviving day to day off coffee and DayQuil. Make sure that if you're watching the sunrise, it's because you went to bed early the night before. Make sure that you don't simply run yourself into the ground out of some misguided, prideful attempt at doing it all. You come first.
