Graphic by Bell Jackson In mid-August, the University of Montevallo wakes up from a summertime slumber, eager to begin its newest semester. Professors return to their classrooms, upperclassmen return to a familiar environment ready to begin classes and freshmen are, well, lost.
There are the classes and new living arrangements. Being away from our families for the first time since birth will create new everyday challenges you’ve never faced, like doing the dishes or your laundry. In addition, there can be immense pressure of forming new social circles, only compounded by the myriad of activities have been graciously organized by faculty and student organizations. Put together, the mass of things one has access to quickly becomes overwhelming.
Inspecting the Welcome Week schedule, I made a few promises to myself. The first was that I would go to events and meetings. I have a bad habit of getting too nervous about socializing and finding some lame excuse as to why I skipped it. I would not have a repeat of all those times in high school where I missed a thing I wanted to do because I was worried that people would look at me weird.
I didn’t go to the vast majority of the events planned during Welcome Week, as I suspect many people like myself didn’t either. However, the ones I did go to, I enjoyed immensely; Such as the Montevallo Organization of Gaming and The Alabamian interest meeting, where I was gifted a chance to write an article for the newspaper–this article, actually!
When the week was completed, I will admit I felt disappointed in myself. Had I gone to the right events? Could I have done something differently? What if I missed something I would have enjoyed? Had I made any friends? Similar thoughts would continue to plague me as the week wound to its end.
I want to end this with two pieces of advice: First, get yourself a calendar, not only to plan ahead academically, but also socially, and maybe it can also work as a motivator when you need one. The second piece of advice was found while mulling over those questions I mentioned earlier. You can never truly know the big “what-ifs.” Fixating on them will do you no good, so instead remember that you always have the next week, and the next week and the next week.
