Semester Owned...

Finally finished another semester....a victorious finish at that. I managed to get a 4.11 for the semester taking 18 credits, while working 40+ hours a week, still eating right, working out at least 4 times a week, getting enough sleep for the most part, and still fitting in a few fun things along the way. You might say to yourself that my major is easy and that because I have a passion for the field of study I’m pursuing I should get straight A’s….well yea you’re fuckin’ right I have a passion for it, why would you spend four years studying something you didn’t have any interest in….and no it’s definitely not easy, try learning metabolic and endocrine pathways, management practices, and every insertion, origin, and action of over 400 muscles and tell me if it’s easy you condescending prick. So this blog is mostly directed at the youngsters still in school, still suffering through all-nighters, cramming the night before exams, and averaging out a 2.5 GPA for the semester wondering what the hell happened….and even if you’re not in school this may help out in some other area of your life. This is basically a list of things that helped me through the semester and a few mistakes I made along the never ending path of academia…

1) Follow your passion…I’ve seen guys major in accounting and go on to make six figures on wall street only to absolutely hate their jobs and regret going to school for it. I’ve known Biology majors who hoped to get into medical school and study 4 years of science, even though they hated science and graduate with a GPA any medical school board would laugh at. I still don’t know why I got a goddamn psych degree, truth is I hate PSYCHOLOGY!!!!!!!! Shit is ridiculous and the only thing more ridiculous is me spending four years studying it. Find your passion, I don’t care if it’s botany, aeronautics, nursing, political science, doodling….I don’t care what it is but find it….if something makes you so happy you can spend the rest of your life doing why would you not?!?!? Money?! Money will be there regardless of whatever subject you choose, you just have to learn how to make it. Parents?! Your parents might want you to do something but they won’t be paying your bills in 20 years. You might even realize you don’t need college to be whatever you want to be, so save yourself 4 years and $20,000.

2) Spending too much time on facebook….what the fuck are you doing…you have a 20 page paper due tomorrow but you absolutely need to post about where your studying, who you’re studying with, and how the other person is not studying?! Stop….you’re an idiot and you just wasted an hour updating your facebook and looking at people’s profile pictures from 2007. I will admit I spend too much time on facebook, actually anything more than five minutes on facebook is a waste of time, but I’m not updating my status saying fml, smh, clubhayden, or posting videos from world star hip hop when I have a paper due the next day….I’m writing the damn paper.

3) Don’t ignore your health. It seems to be cool now to brag about not sleeping the night before an exam, downing 8 red bulls in an hour, eating an entire pizza while studying, and binge drinking on the weekend to celebrate the B- you got on your two page paper. That isn’t cool….that’s 15lbs of fat gained during the semester, catching a cold every 2 weeks, and the negative impacts of cortisol on every aspect of health including cognition. It takes me just as much time to grill a chicken breast as it does to go through a drive thru. If I don’t waste my weekends like a dumbass partying I actually get enough work completed so I don’t have to stay up all night. I do something physically demanding everyday and I even started skipping rope while studying (geek insert: I actually believe that a boost in oxygen intake through exercise actually increases mental performance and cognitive abilities with studying…but that’s for a future dissertation) Bottom line is your health comes first, eat right, stay active, and get enough sleep...

4) Stop complaining about classes….it’s ridiculous. You enrolled yourself in college, you chose your major, you registered for classes, and you paid thousands of dollars per semester to be here….so why complain?! If anything you should be hyped that you’re attending college and pursuing a degree…late nights in the library? Your choice. 10 page paper? Your choice. 100 question practical exam on the entire human body? My choice….while I may not have had a smile on my face the entire semester, I always kept in mind that it was my decision to be here and if given the option I would be in the exact same place learning and doing what I love…