You groggily creep out of bed to begin your morning ritual of a shower, brushing your teeth and getting dressed for class. As you begin applying deodorant, you look up to see yourself in the mirror, screaming so loud the mirror cracks. You begin to breakdown and realize reached your quarter-life crisis. After spending a fourth of your life buried in books, your muscles hold no more strength and you enjoy watching the Food Network, looking forward to your lunch break. Soon, the best four years of your life will end and you’ll stand with your diploma, wondering where the time went. Instead of succumbing to this identity crisis, stand tall and embrace the scary concept of time and discover ways to welcome the end of a first quarter with open arms.
1. Take Up a Hobby
Have you ever wanted to learn how to play the guitar? Well, now would be a good time to take out a small, one million dollar loan, pick up a guitar and become the guy at every party who pulls an “Anyway, here’s ‘Wonderwall.’” “Picking up a hobby and following through with it gives you this incredible sense of accomplishment whenever you achieve a milestone. I remember learning my first song on the keyboard, and it was the best feeling ever,” said recent Florida International University grad Alejandro-Jesus Morales. Maybe you’ll become a freeform Lego artist, creating giant sculptures of Leonardo DiCaprio from tiny little bricks. This new hobby will waste just enough time to help you move on with your life and enjoy the best years of your life. But please, don’t share with anyone that you still play with Legos.
2. Join an Intramural Team
Relive your glory days and join an intramural team. Prove to yourself, and everyone else, you still got that swag—and hopefully you wont get picked last for the kickball team. Focusing your energy solely on getting the soccer ball in the net really helps you come back down to Earth. Intramurals give you a great break from the constant pressure of all your homework, projects, tests and everything in between. Becoming active allows your brain to chill out, and let your body do some heavy lifting for once. You can worry about what you’re going to do after you graduate later, but for now it’s time to get a strike and win the bowling championship.
3. Take a Trip to a Place You’ve Never Been to Before
Work, school, where to live, debt, love (everything but the kitchen sink) all weigh on your brain at every waking moment. They even manage to sneak into your dreams from time to time, forcing you to wake up in a cold sweat 10 minutes before your alarm goes off in the morning. Take a stand against the alarm and shut it off this weekend. Find a forest with lush greenery, beautiful scenic cliff sides and zero people for a relaxing weekend of camping by yourself or your inner circle of friends. Everyone deserves time to disconnect from work and social media. Hell, forget about the outside world and leave your phone at home. With a fresh mind you’ll be ready to tackle the world…until you freak out again next Friday and have to escape the world next weekend.
4. Party Up
Rip off those sweatpants, throw on a pair of shorts and take on a night of partying with your friends. Let go of your inhibitions and let the music drown out the night. Much like a 50-year-old father’s mid life crisis involves buying a motorcycle (for no good reason), you’ll buy the entire bar a round of shots. While you laugh and enjoy yourself, your wallet takes blow after blow. “Enjoy every day like it was your last. Go to every concert that you even might remotely enjoy, and go out with your friends whenever you can. It might not seem like the right option when school is far more important, but these are the best years of our lives, so live a little and enjoy yourself from time to time,” said recent FIU graduate Juan Lopez.
5. Just Breathe
What’s scarier than graduating college? Entering the real world because you’ve graduated college. We’re expected to know what to do without being taught how to do it—who actually knows how to buy a house? “Life is hard, and it’s only going to get harder. Don’t let the weight of everything crush you, because you’re only going to be given more and more responsibilities from here on out,” said recent University of Central Florida graduate Marimar Toledo. “When things get tough, you have to get going. Instead of cracking under pressure, just take sit back, relax, and think of all the good things going on and everything you’re looking forward too in life. Life is brighter and full of color when you’re happy with life.” We’re at the golden age of our life and have three more quarters to go, so take a moment to just breathe.
