Archive for December, 2018

Surviving College: The Cycle of Exhaustion

Tuesday, December 18th, 2018

Sometimes we just feel too beaten down to care anymore. We allow ourselves to fall into unhealthy patterns, making bad decisions at every turn. I miss feeling healthy and in control of my life. Homework and the freezing weather of NYC have beaten me down. But I want to feel healthy and in control of my life again. I want to wake up early every single morning and jump out of bed like the old days. I want to go to the gym and spend hours working off the calories from my meal plan. I want to have time to do my hair or put some makeup on in the morning instead of running out of the room ten minutes after I wake up because I am late for class again. I want to paint my nails and go on cute dates around the city. But most of all, I want to feel happy and confident in myself again.

I have been wanting all of these before I set foot in New York. I remember talking with my closest friends about how mature and productive we were going to be in college, what we would accomplish, and how well we would manage our time doing everything we wanted. When you fantasize about college, you never fantasize about the crippling workload, the constant loneliness, the thousands of miles between you and your friends, the deprivation of beautiful home-cooked meals now reserved for Thanksgiving and Christmas, or the exhaustion.

Everyone has experienced lethargy from lack of sleep. But college elevates exhaustion in a heightened, torturous form of sleep deprivation. For many other college students like me, the unhappiness over the sudden changes in your life is the main source of this tiredness. Your unhappiness keeps you awake at night and keeps you asleep throughout the day. Not an actual state of sleeping, but in a foggy middle ground of daydreams so you can’t really say you’re awake but you also can’t just fall asleep because you only wrote one-hour worth of your three-hour art theory lecture with a ton of work left. When I’m unhappy with my lack of control, I escape into my dreams.

However, life keeps moving while I am asleep so I always feel like I need to catch back up when I wake up. This is the exhausting part. You rush to catch up to life, worrying and stressing even more, and then just as you’ve caught up and the angst fades, the exhaustion has caught up to you as well, and the cycle repeats. I’m stuck on this Ferris wheel of being jaded and sad, but at least I have noticed it. I have seen my mistakes, my missteps, and now I know how to fix them, right? Naturally, that is where this conversation should go since I am giving my advice to whoever is reading this, but I can’t make that claim.

Life isn’t about having all the right answers and living in a perfect world where you never fail. Nobody has all-knowing power, but we can make guesswork at how to find happiness. I want to be happy as I was when I was eight when I was playing sports, venturing through the forest, building forts with my brothers, swimming at the beach, or crafting sandcastles. Nowadays when I have free time, I watch an episode of Bojack Horseman or The Office, scroll through Instagram, or laugh at Key and Peele skits on Youtube, but I no longer play outside.

I saw the Ted Talk “Why you should take time to play.” As a high schooler then, I didn’t connect to the video the first time I watched it, but now that I am in college with barely any free time, I should watch it again. Realizing you’re unhappy and not in control of your life will not automatically restore happiness. But realizing that you need a change and actively committing yourself to it will form a new, healthier cycle.

Remember

  • Check in with yourself
  • Discover what has changed about you and how this makes you feel
  • Make conscious decisions to change, out with the old and in with the new

 

By Solana Joan Suazo


Solana is a freshman at NYU Steinhardt, studying art and psychology. Solana spends many hours walking around lower Manhattan with her friends, sketching in the park, or finding new inspirations for her art around the city. When she isn’t playing volleyball or meditating, she’s usually watching Game of Thrones with her roommate, daydreaming about California beaches and buys, or painting a new picture for art class. She loves coffee, chocolate, and ramen, of course.

For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourage them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing and services.  

At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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Mastering the Art of Time Management

Tuesday, December 11th, 2018

Time management is difficult to master in college. When I make time for important things like exercising and having fun, I feel like the best version of myself. Recently however, I haven’t found time to exercise or go on adventures on my weekends. I was so close to functionality. Then a trip to California wrecked my sleep schedule.

I should set a healthy sleep schedule that allows for at least eight hours a night. I am a complete mess if I receive less than seven hours of sleep, which is why it has been so hard for me to regain the sleep schedule I had before going to California. I stayed up until six in the morning on some nights in California, which is nine in the morning in New York. I would also sleep until about twelve in the afternoon over that vacation, and so I have been sleeping till about three in the afternoon since I have been back in New York. What a mess. I want to feel in control of my life again, so I have decided to make time for the things that are important to me.

I decided to spend less time scrolling aimlessly through social media for hours. Excessive exposure to social media gives me little beneficial; it doesn’t make me feel better, it doesn’t make me healthier. “Social media seriously harms your health” is a common saying. But why don’t any of us heed the warning? I no longer want to waste my time being another thoughtless zombie controlled by the rhythmic movement of thumbs on a screen, scrolling for some meaning far from reach. Instead, I want to find meaning in real life.

I have decided to do more of what I love. I want to create more, as most artists do. I have complained how I have not had the time to create my own art. But upon reflection, I have not been motivated enough to make time for my own art. You must fight for time and be smart with how you use it. Instead of wasting hours away lying down on my bed gazing into the Netflix-riddled abyss onmy computer screen, I should be clearing my bed and my head, busting out my art supplies, and immersing myself in the practice that I love most in this world, painting down my thoughts.

I also want to spend more time with myself. College is a time in your life when you are undeniably alone; no family, no life long friends, no well-acquainted community you grew up with. But that doesn’t mean aloneness is bad. When I am alone, I am more honest with myself, instead of further away from others. When I am alone, I create my best creations. I have no external distractions. When I am painting, or journaling, or sketching alone, I am graced by the company of my best self. 

As I regain my best self, I have had many realizations about the subtle changes I should make to my daily routine. I cannot stress enough how important it is to know yourself in college and throughout life. Yes, it is important to make connections and friendships with others, but other people only know the face that you show them, not all the faces you hide underneath. Also, once you are at a harmonious place with yourself, life will ease. When you are confident in yourself and what you want out of life, you can reach out and get it.

Remember

  1. Schedule your life, make a healthy routine.
  2. Make time for things that benefit you and help you grow as a person.
  3. Spend less time on activities that do not benefit you or that harm you.
  4. Spend some time alone with yourself.
  5. Trust yourself. You know yourself better than anyone else.

 

By Solana Joan Suazo


Solana is a freshman at NYU Steinhardt, studying art and psychology. Solana spends many hours walking around lower Manhattan with her friends, sketching in the park, or finding new inspirations for her art around the city. When she isn’t playing volleyball or meditating, she’s usually watching Game of Thrones with her roommate, daydreaming about California beaches and buys, or painting a new picture for art class. She loves coffee, chocolate, and ramen, of course.

For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourage them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing and services.  

At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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