Alexa’s Monologue

Obviously this isn’t a picture of me as I am not a dog, however I figured a picture of her would be appropriate since I love her more than anything 🙂 Meet Hailie

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When I was little, I imagined that I’d have life all figured out by the time I got to college. Unfortunately it hasn’t quite worked out that way. Then, as I got older college became an increasingly more frightening concept. In high school I thought of it as a place of eternal studying and never ending stress. And even though I was sick of high school by my fourth year, my worries about college made me not want to leave.

Now that I’m here, my college experience is nothing like I expected. And I can’t quite tell if that’s a good or bad thing, but I guess time will tell. I envisioned college as a huge transition, but honestly it feels like high school all over again. This is probably due to the fact that I went to a diverse high school, took AP classes and commuted- which is not very different from my experience here at Baruch. Not to mention Tracy and I got put in the same block and we’ve known each other since High School. So it’s safe to say I avoided many of the normally anticipated challenges of starting college.

Instead I was plagued by a different stress, especially during the first few weeks. I found myself questioning whether I made the right choice in picking a college and whether Baruch had anything to offer me. I was constantly worrying about my future and how all my current decisions would impact it. I would actually have thoughts like “if I don’t finish this homework, I’ll fail the class, I’ll have a low GPA, I’ll flunk out of college and I’ll never ever get a job.” I seriously drove myself crazy.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve realized that I can’t be constantly stressing about things I can’t control. I can’t force myself to find a passion, nor can I go back in time and alter my decisions. All I can do is try my best in class and keep an open mind for the future. I also realized that everyone is having similar problems. This might seem obvious, but sometimes we get too wrapped up in our own heads to see that we’re not alone in our worries.

If I had to share any piece of advice with an incoming freshman (and that includes myself) it would be the following; take college one day at a time. Everyone has trouble with the transition in his or her own way. Stop worrying so much. Enjoy the experience. Appreciate the friends you make. Have fun. Don’t ever compare yourself to others. Most importantly; you will figure everything out eventually.