It's the start of a new semester, and whether it is the fall of your sophomore or senior year, you could probably use a few gentle reminders, a nudge into the right direction of head-space. Scratch that, I'm stepping off the soap box to include me in this too, so circle up, everyone.
No matter what year you're in, we all have expectations of how we imagine the semester going. The thing is, our brains tend to work in extremes. When thinking ahead to how things may pan out, we will either imagine the best possible
I'm there with you, dreamers, with big dreams and happy fantasies of being doted on by our favorite profs and receiving the grades to match high praise. We see ourselves going on exciting adventures with our friends, or perhaps thinking that this is the year where you find that new and exciting love you've been waiting for.
I'm also right there with the other half of the group, the worrywarts. While some of us might look on to the future semester through rose-tinted glasses, the other half of us is going off the other end and freaking out about everything that could go wrong. Sure, you could fail all of your classes or not get the role you want in the production or in your club. Any number of things could go wrong and boy are you sure that you're right about every single one of these things happening.
But guess what? It's unlikely. Again, our brain goes either one way or the other with extremes, and your worst idea of how your semester could turn out is just as impossible as your best idea.
I'm not going to tell you to never worry, both because I hate when people tell me and because for some reason I still personally claim the title of 'Professional Worrier', so that would be hypocritical as well as ineffective. I also won't shower you in promises that everything will be perfect because that is an abuse of power as your friendly neighborhood internet stranger.
What I can tell you is that from what I've noticed, things never go the way we think they will in our head, for better or for worse. Things tend to turn out a bit different, but probably a bit better, in the end. Unfortunately, there's no telling until the semester is over and we look back with fond memories and yet another utterance of, 'I can't believe how fast this year flew by!'
The best thing is to put out as much positive mojo into the universe, say to yourself, 'I'm going to rock this semester', and then forget about it. I'm serious, try your best not to think and plan out everything. Remember that everything will be okay in the end, and if it's not okay, it's not the end.
Oh, and one last not-so-gentle reminder: go to class, guys. I know it's tempting to skip and sleep, but that college degree is expensive.
