To all who read my blogs, hello again! To all who have yet to read them, welcome! It’s been a while since I’ve last written, but I’m hoping to get back into the rhythm of things this semester. Winter term treated me well as I was back home with family, but I’m excited to be back on campus for the semester.
My winter term project consisted of creating a workbook for one of my classes that continues this term, so it was helpful to review material from last term and get a preview of what is to come in spring. Since mine was off campus, I was able to work around my schedule and do so much while I was away. I was able to see my family in Arizona, visit a national park, go to my mom’s classroom, and work as a waitress. (I tried to attach photos, but I guess I'm a little rusty at this blogging thing.)
While I was away, I often missed being around my Obie friends and wondered how often it was snowing in Oberlin. (It only snowed for 10 minutes back home.) I got a handful of mass emails from Oberlin talking about the events going on on campus during winter term, so I knew a bit about what was going on. More friends than I had originally thought had spent their winter term on campus, so an on-campus project is definitely a consideration for next year.
Before I think about the next year, though, I want to implement better habits and achieve some goals this year. If you haven’t thought about how you want to improve yourself this year (or your studies this semester), I’d strongly encourage you to take some time and consider what goals you have and what you want to accomplish. If you don’t have a strong idea of what you want, or you would like to get to the end of this blog post, feel free to read on, and maybe take some inspiration.
The main thing I want to prioritize this year is my health. You can’t run on empty forever, so it’s important to take care of yourself. I plan to stick closely to a sleep schedule this year, eat more nutritious food, and exercise more often. “Being healthy” is a really vague goal, but once it’s broken down into smaller actions, it becomes easier to do. Some things I’ve done to work toward this goal include signing up for an athletics class, start taking my vitamins regularly, and reduce my caffeine intake. One month into the year, and I already feel like I’ve taken steps toward my goal.
I also, like most students, want to improve in my academics this coming semester. Now that I’ve seen the grades I received last term, I know where I stand academically and it’s motivated me to get better grades this term. I plan to use my time between classes for doing homework at the library and going to my professors’ office hours. This will help prevent too many late night study sessions and allow me to stick to a fairly regular sleep schedule. I’m also hoping to use spare time to get ahead on assignments so I don’t fall behind when things get busy.
Self-care is an area I tend to lack in, so I’ll definitely be doing more exercises in self-care throughout the semester. Sometimes self-care looks like decluttering your desk and doing laundry, and other times it looks like saying no to a night out when you know you should catch up on sleep. I plan to be more intentional with my time and decisions this year as well as continue writing in a journal and being patient with myself and those around me.
I’m excited to take what I’ve learned from last semester and use it for the spring term. I feel that the goals I have in place and how I plan to achieve them will allow me to accomplish more now than I have before.
Wishing everyone reading this an exciting new year and a productive semester! Let’s see how these goals improve my life and how this term goes.
