Tag Archives: stress

Making Self Care A Priority

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College is one of the most exciting times of our lives. We have freedom like we never have before, we get to pick all of our classes, we have no parents or guardians living with us, endless opportunities to join clubs, do sports, and meet tons of new people. It feels like the world is finally opening its doors and we can do everything and anything we want.

Although this is liberating, where we feel like a force to be reckoned with, it normally lasts for a week or two, and then reality sets in. Living on your own means that you have to regulate everything yourself: when to do laundry, when to eat, study, get exercise. In addition, we have to regulate our own schedules beyond our classes. How many clubs can you join? Will you do a varsity sport? How much time will that eat up? These are all things we have to think about and it can be a hard transition to make sure there’s a balance between them all.

Most of the people at the 5C’s are extremely good at managing everything and are always willing to offer advice to help make sure their friends and peers are balancing everything in their lives. What I see more and more often is that people often prioritize the care of other students, before they prioritize their own. I am definitely guilty of this and have a hard time making sure that I have time to get all my work done, enjoy my extra-curricular activities, and also spend time with my friends and relax. Self care is so important, but often doesn’t take precedence in our busy schedules. That isn’t to say that you shouldn’t be there for your friends, but you can’t help others as effectively if you aren’t in a good place yourself.

Recognizing when you are stressed or overwhelmed and taking a step back to evaluate how you can reduce that stress is crucial to staying mentally, physically, and emotionally healthy. Sometimes, you realize you haven’t exercised in a while, so you go to the gym to clear your head, or you spend a night with your friends watching movies or having a dance party. But sometimes you just need to treat yourself to a bubble bath or a soft pretzel.

 

jess

When life gets to be too much, we often feel alone and isolated by our feelings, but if you are feeling down, there are so many resources and people whose job it is to help you talk it out. You can always contact your RA, the dean of students, a parent, or a friend to work through your feelings. In addition, Scripps and the 5C’s offer free counseling if you would rather talk with someone who has a completely objective perspective.

The most important thing about self care is recognizing your feelings and realizing that they are completely valid, even if they seem outrageous or silly. The truth is, most people are going through similar situations and realizing that can also be very comforting. I know for me, I have had to cut back on my activities this year, in order to maintain my sanity and emotional wellbeing. That is allowed and totally valid. If your stress comes from grades, know that you are not defined by your grade. It does not define your self-worth, or even what you will do in the future. Everyone will love you the same, even if you don’t ace your next midterm.

So embrace your feelings, even when they seem silly and take some time to treat yourself every now and then.

Why the Struggle?

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When I was a kid, I wanted to be a paleontologist, and then an author, and then a librarian, and then a rockstar. That last career idea was formed in the midst of the financial recession, when the failing economy created a sense of disillusionment with society within my 12-year-old self. I seriously considered not going to college, despite the extent with which my previous dream careers had depended on such a thing. I thought shacking up in a van and touring across the country with a self-formed girl band would be the life for me. While this dream was partly fueled by sheer teen angst, it was also partly fueled by an expressive desire to make my writing known to the world. There was one caveat, however: I had terrible stage fright. I still do. And with that, I decided to actually apply myself in school and to do well enough to get into a place like Scripps.

I have never really been that “fight the system-y,” so hard as I tried. I love school, and learning, and doing well in things that people tell me I do well in. I have always had this strange hunger to work hard and succeed. Even when I didn’t have to, I worked two jobs in high school because I felt like I should. I felt like, having grown up so privileged, I owed my parents something. Now in college, I feel like I owe them even more. But what’s interesting is that my parents don’t feel that way; they wouldn’t care if over the summer I went home and worked as a waitress. I’m finding that the person that I really strive to impress the most is myself.

What I’m writing right now is the last in a series of six writing assignments that I’ve had due over the past four days. This is my first big stressor since coming back this semester, and it hasn’t been easy to complete. My parents were always confused when I stressed myself out like this, and to an extent, I am too. I mean, I didn’t have to write for a newspaper, or a blog, or take really hard classes at a school like Scripps. I could have gone to Penn State and rushed, and they would have been fine with it. Yet, I see everything I’m doing as a part of a larger plan for myself. With everything I do, I get better at the more I do it. There’s this great commencement speech that Charlie Day, the writer and producer of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” gave at Merrimack College. He says that “people will tell you to do what makes you happy…But I don’t think you should just do what makes you happy. Do what makes you great. Do what’s uncomfortable and scary and hard and pays off in the long run…Without that struggle, what is your success anyway?” I think about that every day I’m pulling an all nighter, or writing until my fingers cramp. And I believe It will all be worth it in the long run.

 

Math’s Beast: the wonders and horrors of Calculus II

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unknown-2After finishing Calculus AB in high school, I was content with the fact that I might never take math again. Unfortunately, once I decided that I wanted to become a science major, taking math again was no longer an option – it was required.

Coming into college, I was intent on being a double major in biochemistry and English. I knew that I wanted to combine my love of the sciences with my love for writing and figured that a double major made sense. Thus, I would also need to take Calculus II in order to fulfill the major requirements for biochemistry. After taking Calculus I at Pomona last semester with one of the best math teachers I have ever had, I wasn’t too worried about Calc II and was confident that my professor had prepared me well. I knew that with hard work, I would be able to do well in the class. Although I still believe this to be true, I have heard more recently, from many friends, peers, and professors, that Calc II is the hardest of the three calculus classes. That was not exactly uplifting news and not what I wanted to hear about a class that was making me more and more nervous. It wasn’t until I remembered some of the basic skills you need to succeed in math classes, that I began to feel better.

Math is a subject that you must learn by doing. My mom is a fifth grade teacher and always tells her students that the only way to get better at it, is to practice. Although this is fairly intuitive, as many of us have been taught this lesson in other parts of our life, such as in sports or the arts, math is especially tricky because it is hard to remember that even if you can get one problem right, there are so many other variations that can be written. Math challenges us to evaluate what we are seeing at first glance. There are often problems that are easy to solve, but require work at the beginning to make the rest of the problem possible. This approach is unlike most of the problems we learn to solve in algebra classes where the strategy to solve for the specific answer is pretty straight forward. But in Calc II, not only are you solving for that specific answer, you must also determine if work needs be done beforehand so that the problem is properly executed.

Math can also be difficult simply because it does not seem applicable to our dailiy lives. For example, it might lead us to have these sorts of thoughts:math-fail-pics-409unknown

 

 

 

 

 

But what I am learning more and more often, is that Calc II is applicable and can help me understand more of what I am learning in my science classes. Although, it’s hard to believe, the parallels are there.

Calc II has proven to be a challenge, even this early in the semester, and yet, when I do end up figuring out that problem that’s been driving me crazy, I can’t help but feel exactly like this:

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Comments? Questions? Resources? Comment below and share any of your own success (or horror) stories about Calculus II.

Debunking Internship Myths

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Internships are full of surprises and can be shrouded in mystery. We think we know what we are getting ourselves into, but often times, internships end up being completely different than we expected.  Keep reading to unpack some common internship misconceptions and hopefully learn something along the way!

  1. Internships are “one size fits all.”

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The entertainment industry has portrayed internships in movies, tv shows, novels, and basically every other publicly consumed medium.  Growing up, I always thought that an internship was a highly coveted position that involved picking up coffee and dry cleaning.  I now know that this isn’t necessarily the case.  Some internships may involve balancing three trays of Starbucks drinks while running around making copies, but there are internships that involve video editing, phone banking, and even assisting in surgery.  All internships provide immense amounts of career insight and experience, but they are a lot less formulaic than we are commonly led to believe.

  1. Asking questions will make you seem like “the stupid intern.”

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There are a few damaging stereotypes that can surround the idea of the workplace intern: overworked, incompetent, annoying, and useless.  These words couldn’t be farther from the truth when it comes to interns! Interns are some of the most engaged, thoughtful, and dedicated people in the business.  The purpose of an internship is to LEARN.  In order to do this, you have to ask questions and figure out the ins and outs of a workplace.  There is a learning curve, but that doesn’t mean that you aren’t qualified to be there.  Asking questions doesn’t make you annoying, it makes you engaged and interested.  Yes, you probably will be overworked, but hopefully in the best way possible.  Don’t worry about the unfounded beliefs about your position, and go in each day willing to work your hardest and break down those unflattering stereotypes.

  1. Being an unpaid intern means that you aren’t qualified for a paid position.

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Unpaid internships are still exist in the working world today.  Although more companies are paying interns, unpaid opportunities are still a very common way to gain career experience, and often can lead to a paid position at a place of work.  Many times, it seems an intern does the same amount (if not more!) work than an official employee.  Just because you are not being paid to be there doesn’t mean that you aren’t valued.  You had the skills to get the internship, and you will develop the skills to be employed in that field, if you don’t already have them. As much as employers benefit from having you there, you also benefit from taking an unpaid internship.  Your internship is a time for you to learn about a prospective career path and decide if it’s right for you.  You are there to gain experience and refine your career goals, and who knows, you might even end your internship with an official job offer!

  1. Interns are disposable, and if you mess up, you’re out.

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While this may be true with some internships, the general truth is that the place that you are interning probably is in need of an intern and their primary role should  be to teach you.  Businesses use interns for a variety of purposes, and typically they are in need of an extra set of hands.  They aren’t usually going to throw out that extra person just because some documents weren’t collated properly.  It’s okay to make mistakes, and if you butcher something, it’s going to be fine, more often than not.  Employers appreciate honesty and dedication, and they understand that sometimes mistakes happen.  As long as you are up front about and understanding of what went wrong, it’s fairly likely that they will be too.

Finally, a fact about internships:

5. Interning is one of the best things you can do.

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For better or for worse, internships provide incredible career experience.  Even a “bad” internship can show you what you do and do not want from your future career and that is invaluable. Internships are full of learning opportunities, and you don’t only learn about jobs, you learn about yourself.  Internships can be difficult and stressful, but you grow and evolve as an employee and person in the big working world. So next time you are offered an internship, go ahead and say yes!  Your future self will be glad that you did.

The Worst Summer Ever… Or Was It?

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Hi, my name is Isobel Whitcomb, and I have officially endured The Worst Summer Ever. All hyperboles aside, from any person’s objective standpoint, my summer does look pretty bad.

All year, I had been looking forward to studying abroad in Bhutan with the School for Field Studies (SFS), taking classes and conducting an independent research project at the Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Conservation and the Environment (UWICE). My time there was to be spent scaling the rough terrain of the Himalayas, collecting data in the field, and learning from both American and Bhutanese professors in ecology and forestry.

And then everything went awry.

UWICE, where I was meant to study this summer.

It all started during my first week at home. I should have been excited to be done with Junior year, for my 21st birthday, and most of all to take off for Bhutan. But I just couldn’t muster up the enthusiasm or energy. My mum kept saying “I didn’t look quite right,” (thanks, Mum), but I just chalked up the comments to her British bluntness. I felt tired and bedraggled. The simplest tasks zapped me of energy. I was sleeping all the time. But to be honest, who doesn’t feel a little wiped out after a long, hard semester and all the stress of finals week. It wasn’t until my face and neck erupted in huge, painful lumps and I got a high fever that I realized perhaps something was wrong.

Drawing a comparison between me and this chipmunk would be doing the chipmunk a disservice.

So I had mono. And strep throat. And a respiratory infection. I could probably soldier through that, right? Wrong, Isobel, very wrong. My doctor absolutely banned me from traveling, even though if her consent hadn’t been an issue I would have gone anyways.

I was forced abandon my entire plan for the summer. Not only was this incredibly disappointing for obvious reasons, but the decision came with a vast amount of guilt. Like all my fellow Scrippsies, I am a high achieving liberal arts student. Throughout my time in college, I’ve had it drilled into me that summers are a time of productivity meant for internships, research, or classes. Now, I was having the valuable summer before my senior year snatched from me.

Or so I thought. After three weeks of resting in bed, either sleeping, watching netflix, or trying to figure out how to get food and liquids into me without feeling even more sick, I began to feel slightly better. Now, “better” is entirely relative. By “better” I mean that I was able to sit out on my back porch and do a low key activity, like reading, writing, and painting. I was able to walk around the block once or twice. As it turned out, this time for self-reflection was exactly what I needed, not only physically, but mentally.

If I were to print a novelty calendar for my year, this would be the background for June.

College is stressful. Not only is it a time when success is defined by good grades and time spent doing research or running clubs, but it’s also a developmentally formative time when we’re trying to figure out once and for all who we are, who our people are, and what exactly we’re supposed to do with the rest of our lives.

Now, I don’t want to give the impression that I haven’t totally appreciated my three plus years at Scripps. I’ve made friends with some of the brightest, most genuine women I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. I’ve taken life-changing courses. I’ve spent hours reading Foucault while lying in the sun on Jacqua quad. But I’ve also struggled to find my niche academically, to decide on the career to pursue, and of course I have struggled with comparing myself to the bright, accomplished young women I just mentioned.

I found that as I rested my body, I gained mental clarity. I began to tease out my priorities. No path immediately appeared through the murky mire of what I wanted to do in life, but my values did quickly reveal themselves. For instance, I realized that I wasn’t willing to give up writing, and that any career I pursued would need to allow for a touch of creativity. As the summer went on, I began venturing onto the internet to explore my options for jobs and for grad school. For years I’ve entertained the idea of going into Science writing without really understanding how I might get there. Over the summer, I finally had the time, and mental energy to seriously look into these options. I called alumni, emailed program directors.

For the first time, I began to feel excited for life after graduation. Even more than that, I absolutely couldn’t wait.

Coming back to school last week, I was asked countless times “How was your summer?” Some people hadn’t heard, or else had forgotten that I spend half the summer recovering from three illnesses. Nevertheless, whenever I’m met with this question, I smile and answer with ease “It was my best summer yet.” Because sometimes the events in life that we least expect are the most valuable, and formative of our lives.

Once I’m established as a science writer, I’ll have mono to thank.

Discussion: If you have stories of mishaps or unexpected events that ended up leading to significant change or decision in life, leave it in the comments! I’d love to hear them.