Perseverance

College is often a time of major growth and change for young people, and although I’ve been on this unique journey for two years now, it still hasn’t gotten any easier to maneuver my wandering and nontraditional path towards graduation. To most effectively reach my dreams, I have to consistently be able to work hard. That being said, my biggest challenge in making progress towards my goals has been my mental health.

I have achieved a lot that I'm very proud of myself for, but I still have a long way to go before feelings like impostor syndrome and insecurity fade away. For example, I was blessed enough to be able to secure two prestigious internships this past spring semester, one at the U.S. Department of State and one at NASA. This felt like even more of a miracle after many people in my life discouraged me from taking a break from being a full-time student in order to do internships and get real-world experience.

Despite this, I still felt like every time I opened LinkedIn, there were so many other students who were so much more talented than I am and who didn’t constantly feel lost about the future. Because I didn’t know what my dream career was, I had no concrete dream to work towards, instead going wherever my studies took me.

This feeling of confusion and subsequent defeat led to me feeling very hopeless during the summer. Instead of working hard towards any goals, I feel overwhelmed by the prospect of them, leading to rapid burn out as I did schoolwork and applied for what seemed like infinite programs.

I've addressed this by giving myself more grace, taking more breaks, and doing more activities that will improve my mental, physical, and spiritual health. This past semester, I have been learning how to cook well, consistently going to the gym, and praying more. Because of this, I have already seen an improvement in my general mood and my relationship with myself, which has positively reflected in my work and life in general. Now, I feel like I have truly reached mental balance and let go of my severe impostor syndrome.

I have often forged my own path despite what others tell me to do. At one point, this led to me feeling like I was doing something wrong that everyone else had figured out. After building better lifestyle habits, I was able to better prepare myself mentally for a future that is uncertain, while also gaining helpful skills in the meantime like cooking, fitness, and time management. Going through this rough time has now led me to want to raise awareness about the issue of impostor syndrome, and help others who are going through the same thing, through campus advocacy, using my platform no matter how small, and being a listening ear for my friends who struggle. That way, they can best prepare for a successful and happy life in their dream careers.

To Do List

The below list of daily tasks I wrote for myself inspired me to get better at building good habits and get rid of bad ones.

Morning Routine:

1. Sleep as much as possible during the night, at least 8 hours

2. Immediately get out of bed after waking up

3. Stretch, and then meditate for 10 minutes (use a narrated YouTube video to guide you if you're lost!)

4. Brush your teeth

5. Fill up a water bottle and go to the gym

6. Come home, take a shower, do skincare and makeup

7. Eat a healthy, big breakfast and wash any leftover dishes

8. Clean your room if it's messy (that way, messes won't build up and you'll come home to a nice clean room)

9. Go to class or library to study

Throughout-the-day Tips:

1. Drink lots of water

2. Eat snacks when hungry

3. Don't sit for long periods of time

4. Give yourself grace

Post-Class Routine:

1. Meal prep (even more fun when on a phone call with your parents)

2. Study until 1 hour before bed (no procrastinating!)

3. Skincare routine

4. Do something fun for an hour (read, watch YouTube, your choice!)

5. Prayer (not for everyone, but works for me)

6. Sleep early enough that you don't have to set an alarm and only wake up after a deep and fulfilling sleep :)