Still Homesick? Don’t Panic!
Being homesick hurts. Moving away from home means that everything is strange — from your bed to the food — not to mention the whole dorm thing. If you’re still slogging through homesickness, you might be having trouble getting up and facing the day. It’s hard to feel joyful when you feel more like you’re grieving. But you can feel better, I promise you, and here’s some help.
Actually, the title of this post is a play on words, because homesickness really is a form of panic. Understanding what it is will help you see how to help yourself through it.
Read MoreProfessors Are Human, Too!
There’s something about the title — “professor” — that can make you feel that your instructors are unapproachable. I want to talk about that for a few moments with you, because you have an opportunity in college that you may never have again. That is, right now, you’ve got the chance to talk with and learn from men and women who have dedicated their lives to gaining wisdom in fields of study in which you yourself may want to excel. Realizing that your professors are people first can free you up to take full advantage of having them close at hand.
Teaching and learning, at their best, involve a relationship between instructor and student
Read MoreFinding Your Path – Part 2
Okay – so you’ve got a boatload of new challenges this year, whether you’re a senior in high school working out what’s next or a freshman in college.
Here’s what I’d like you to do:
- Make a worry list. Sketch out a quick list of the challenges you’re facing – the ones that have you stumped, lost or stuck.
- Hide it. Put your list aside where you can’t see it for the moment.
- Create a gentle space. Plan a half hour that you can have all to yourself, a time when you’re free to think and imagine. Create a space that encourages you to expand into your thoughts. Maybe it’s a park bench, maybe it’s the breakfast room. You might curl up on the sofa with your laptop, or it might be more your style to go to a really nice book store to choose the perfect journal, a place of honor for the thoughts that you will place in it.
- Dare to imagine. Begin a post entitled, “Ideal Day.” This will help you create a larger context.
Finding the Path That Is *Your* Path
“If the path before you is clear,” said Joseph Campbell, “you’re probably on someone else’s.”
Whether the next steps you’re struggling with have to do with your classes, your major, your parents or a significant relationship, you may not be able to see beyond the very next brick in the path. Life can’t come with a map because each life, each person is different. This article is about helping you as you choose each step on your own path. It’s about having the courage to celebrate your own unique journey.
Read MoreThree Tips to Hang On to Your Ca$h
School can be a money pit, plain and simple. There are a lot of expenses, but with vigilance on your part, at the very least you can avoid getting ripped off! With a little more effort, you can get much of what you need at reasonable prices. It’s about being resourceful, creative — and knowing the traps.
A few tips to get you started:
- Books are a major student expense (see #3 in this article from Yahoo Finance), as you’re probably finding out. In response to the Yahoo post, Dr. Ralph Meyer, University of Cincinnati Professor Emeritus offers an explanation and some tips about managing the cost of textbooks:
“Yes, [textbooks] are outrageously priced. Publishers are on a 3-yr. cycle for new editions so that students CAN’T sell them back to the bookstore. I’ve reviewed many textbooks and find almost no changes from previous editions. What I do is tell my students to use the old editions – the page numbers may be
Take a Chance Anyway
Check out this great post in the New York Times by Rebecca Reddicliff. Reddicliff, who is going into her sophomore year, advises freshmen to “Put Yourself Out There and Do Something Crazy.” If you’re on the fence about whether to plunge into the adventure of college life or just tuck yourself away in your dorm room with a pizza, this is food for thought.
Reddicliff is in good company with her recommendation. The advice to “do something crazy” was expressed in entirely different words by Eleanor Roosevelt when she said, “You must do the things you think you cannot do.” That means
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