I hate to break it to you, but college isn’t always like the movies. I will admit, the summer before freshman year of college, I couldn’t stop thinking how I would dance through my dorm building at ungodly hours with my best friends. However, I quickly learned that freedom is a dangerous thing for the child of a helicopter parent.
Having total independence becomes dangerous if all your life, your parents have been there to bother you about going to bed, to get off your phone, to not go to that party because you have a test that week. Never before did I need to self-regulate every single thing I did. In Witte, the only person to force me to do my work was myself, and that was a skill I truly hadn’t developed. So, being the naïeve girl I was, I did all those things–I stayed up till 2am playing in the snow because I had no sense of discipline.
After missing one too many Trig lectures, I decided to kick myself into adult mode and set my priorities straight. It’s hard to set expectations for yourself and hold yourself accountable for your actions, studies, successes, and failures, but it is a lesson that is embodied with maturity and acknowledgement of your mistakes.
Some tips:
- Set goals
- Stay organized (use a planner)
- Schedule your errands
- Manage your sleeping habits
- Drink water and SLEEP.
You will be doing yourself a favor in the long run if you take care of yourself. This is the first step into adulthood–being self-sufficient, self-disciplined, and be the responsible child your parents raised you to be. You got this!