It would be a boldfaced lie for me to say that my life is particularly interesting or that it deserves an HBO documentary with my name in typeface letters. The boring truth is that most days, I am skimming through Pinterest finding inspirational quotes and finding every excuse not to take off my pajamas. But, that’s not why I decided to start a blog.
I’ve started a blog to share how I find balance as a college student preparing to enter her second year at SMU (Southern Methodist University – and no, not Saint Mary’s College contrary to popular belief).
Unfortunately, I’ve found that there are few guidebooks on how to balance college life with personal wellness. And experience has taught me that personal wellness should never come second. In college, there seems to be a misconception that having a good time and living mindfully are mutually exclusive. I want to start a conversation about how to do both without becoming overwhelmed in the process.
We tend to stereotype college kids as ramen-eating, pajama-wearing partiers who cram before finals and sleep through class. And yes, that totally happens, but because we embrace the stereotype, we start to fit the mold – myself included. Though my idea of a “party” is ordering True Food Kitchen to my dorm and watching back-to-back episodes of Gilmore Girls on a Friday night, I still had plenty of mornings where I slept past my alarm and weeks where I had worn leggings without any intention of ever going to the gym. Partly due to homesickness, and partly due to lethargy brought about my hypothyroidism, I was kinda a mess my first semester. However, when I came home during winter break, my mom offered some blunt, but much-needed advice that I needed a plan of action for how to get back to being me.
And that’s when it clicked.
No one hands you a life planner flagged with all the how-tos on how to lead a healthy lifestyle while you cope with living in a new environment and completing mundane tasks that for some reason you don’t know how to do (such as putting sheets on a lofted bed) and make you feel as though you aren’t ready to be an independent adult. There’s no two-way mirror through which my mom can tell me that I’m doing it all wrong when I’m 1,500 miles away. But, that’s where investing in yourself makes the difference.
This blog is about making time for yourself and not putting you on hold as you encounter the challenges that come with starting college, or just simply being a young adult learning to adapt to the real world. This blog is about tackling change with the right mindset. This blog is about being mindful of your needs. This blog is about being unapologetically you.
Cheers to looking each challenge in the eye and giving it a wink.
xo Grace
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