Learning to Say No

Every College Freshman's Biggest Hurdle...

Happy Wednesday everyone! Today's post is all about learning to say no. I wanted to touch on this topic because I think it is soooo very important. I am gonna go ahead and say that 99.9% of college Freshmen have major FOMO and although it is a trend that is hard to pass over, it only takes a little insight to get over this very-real hurdle.

A little context about myself, I meet the perfect description of an extroverted introvert. I absolutely hate missing out on things, yet I value my alone time so much, the struggle for me comes when I have to initiate that alone time on my own. I remember being told about the first week of college by a Sophomore that 'the first few weekends of college are crucial for going out, you've gotta make yourself known'. Thinking about how wack that type of pressure is, is what motivated me to write a post about it.

As always, these are my opinions! Take them with a grain of salt or don't, its all up to you :)

There isn't a worse feeling than feeling like your missing out. Through social media we see absolutely everything and God forbid we don't see ourselves all dressed up in that cute Instagram photo with all of our friends that one night that we decided to not go out. We are all guilty of having that stomach-churning, why didn't I just go? feeling, associated with this fear of missing out. And I am not going to lie, yeah that feeling sucks, so naturally we allow ourselves to continually say yes to things that maybe we don't even really feel like doing, just so we can feel that temporary sense of acceptance. And for what?? only to feel that same feeling the next weekend.

Taking a step back, yes it is important to give yourself time to have fun and experience part of the college-culture if thats what you enjoy doing, however, it is so crucial that you find a balance. If you have a test the following day at 8am that you have most definitely not studied for and still find yourself juggling whether or not you should go out and party with your friends...just say no. I can promise you, you missing a few weekends out of many--many--weekends will not be the downfall of your social life.

Finding this very important niche of self-awareness is what fuels us as individuals. Be the one to step back and say to yourself 'how important is this in the grand scheme?' 9 times out of 10, it probably isn't that important. The other side of this coin though is remembering that you're a college student. You should go out if that is how you enjoy yourself, you should allow yourself the freedom to have genuine down-time, the challenge only comes when you let these values rule over your life. Prioritize whats important, then organize whats not.

I hope that these tips were helpful, insightful, and allowed you to step back and take a breath. Till Sunday y'all...xoxo.