routine

After college with the freedom of making last minute plans and eating at all hours of the night, it’s always a little jarring to switch back. 

It was just past noon, 12:03 p.m. to be exact, that time of the day when shadows hide beneath one’s feet and everything appears stark, distinguished only by color, lacking depth.

Every week, my bedside table goes through a cycle of not mess, to clutter, to extreme mess and back to not mess. It represents my brain cycle too. Every day, I aim to write a tiny little diary for the citizens on my bedside table.

It’s no longer fun when your responsibilities and leisure coincide through the same medium.

Instead, let go of those thoughts, even if it’s just for the morning. You will have time to think about them later. Just appreciate the time you have now.

The "that girl" regimen took a toll on my mental health as I was never satisfied with myself, always improving but never feeling like I was enough.

The key here is to look for the things that you don’t want to have looming over you when you are finally ready to put your head down and start studying.

Do you want to become “that girl?” The girl who has her life together and manages to stay productive throughout the day? The girl who prepares healthy meals with whole, unprocessed foods? The girl who moves her body at the gym, outdoors or on a yoga mat in her living room to achieve physical fitness? The girl who studies hard and takes typewriter-esque, color-coordinated notes to review at the end of each lecture? The girl who reads for pleasure and finishes a novel each week? The girl who never misses a step in her morning and nightly self-care routine — managing to always look put together in a chic outfit, with her skin glowing and hair voluminous? 

After more than a year of remote instruction, UC Berkeley finally announced its plans for a fully in-person fall 2021 semester, leaving many students with a mixture of excitement and dread. As a rising junior who spent my sophomore year in my childhood home all the way across the country in North Carolina, I’ve only had roughly a year’s worth of a true UC Berkeley experience. Nevertheless, the impending return to campus has inspired me to reminisce on aspects of college life that I miss dearly. Here are six things I’m looking forward to — and vow to never take for granted again — as we prepare for an in-person academic year! 

Building healthy habits and practices will help you to start next semester on the right foot as the wait to return to an in-person semester finally ends.