Travel Nostalgia
Oh, the horrible travel nostalgia. Whether it’s just traveling between cities or traveling overseas, travel nostalgia is real and it hits hard. Listening to a song you heard on vacation that one time can bring memories flooding back and it can be hard to deal with. Even if you’re able to travel, knowing that every destination’s life has been drained out of it as everything stays closed can be just as upsetting.
How do we turn this around to look at it from a positive viewpoint? Well, as cheesy as it may sound, look to the future! Try making a travel vision board or bucket list to motivate you for when things finally open up again. Try creating a financial savings plan too — even if it’s just a little bit — so that you can splurge when traveling can finally happen again.
Lethargy
We’ve all experienced lethargy…you know, the feeling of not wanting to (or not really being able to) do anything besides sit around all day or always feeling unmotivated and lazy. You’re not alone. Especially during times like these, most people have felt lethargic. Even the word itself is ugly. How do we possibly look at lethargy positively, then? Just try to remember that everyone’s in your boat.
Nobody’s mad at you for feeling this way, it’s actually pretty normal. Knowing this, allow yourself to feel lazy for a little bit. If you feel you’re on the verge of burnout, let yourself feel this way because it’s better to give yourself time to refresh your mind than to half-complete tasks without really giving them your all.
Seasonal Sadness
The weather affects us more than we think. According to MedicinePlus, around 10% of people suffer diagnosed “Seasonal Depression,” and it’s predicted that most of us are affected by the weather (especially when temperatures are low and skies are dark). Seasonal sadness can certainly contribute to lethargy and travel nostalgia, making us feel gloomy and unmotivated and wistful for summer days.
To turn this feeling around and alleviate it, try and keep in mind that seasons change! Though the days may feel long and boring, winter is coming to an end and once we get through the early-spring rains, summer will be so close. Warm days are right around the corner, and as the saying goes: April showers bring May flowers!
Stress
Leading a balanced life as a college student is never easy when it comes to juggling work, social and personal life. There are two ways to look at stress. There’s the Type A perspective in which we can use stress as a pushing factor, motivating us to get our work done so that we’ll have spare time. Then there’s the type B perspective in which we stress about everything but then we procrastinate and that causes more stress. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy to change that.
If this is the case, one thing to do to view stress in a positive light is to be present and mindful. We tend to feel stressed when we dwell on the past or the future and feel anxious about “what ifs” and past mistakes. Take a second to live in the moment. If you want to get your work done right now, go for it. If there’s something you haven’t finished, don’t worry, set a time to work on it and give yourself time right now to just… chill…
Loneliness
Adjusting to campus life while also having remote classes… Making strong connections on campus might take a little longer and it may feel overwhelmingly lonely from time to time. Definitely not a feeling you can just “brush off”, so how do we combat this feeling of loneliness? Though there isn’t one specific fix for feeling lonely, there are little things you can do. Such as: being the first one to reach out – as intimidating as it might feel to be the first one to reach out in a situation, the other person will feel flattered and may have been too scared to reach out to you! Also, give your family a call! They will appreciate it and you probably will too.
COVID and college make things difficult, but you got this! Resources are always available if necessary.
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