I distinctly remember attending an advising lecture during my freshman year of college telling me to take it easy with the amount of extracurriculars we sign up for because we have four years to engage in something new each year since they can be distracting from your degree.
While that may be true in some cases, I strongly believe that being a part of something throughout your time at Penn State can be your constant and can be the thing that helps you grow the most as an individual during college. Extracurricular activities, I believe, allow you to master something over four years (or however long you do it), but also explore different aspects of it differently each year, whether it be finances, or leadership, or logistical planning.
As a freshman, I became so hesitant and afraid when I was told to hold back on extracurricular activities. Throughout my entire life, I have always enjoyed intense after school clubs or dance practices, or being a part of an activity for 13 years, but suddenly, for the first time, I was told not to. As my freshman year progressed, I found that not only did I have time to spare, but limiting myself to only activities I knew I would love was too safe of a move and even limited my social group.
While I changed that as a sophomore, we are approaching the time that most extracurricular activities and organizations start wrapping up for the year. Two weekends ago, one of my biggest time commitments came to an end, and I just had my last dance competition, I am already starting to feel the withdrawal… not just the withdrawal from the activities themselves or my friends in them (which is very much so true), but a significant withdrawal of motivation.
For me, being incredibly busy is one of my greatest motivations. As an avid procrastinator, having a variety of things to do is what pushes me to complete everything on time. As soon as I have less work to do, not only do I overestimate how much time I actually have, I lose the excitement and motivation that comes with being able to jump back and forth from tasks while still remaining productive.
I have always loved the saying that “college teaches you how to learn,” but it teaches you so much more. It teachers you what makes you productive, what motivates you, and how you react to different situations in addition to your actual classes. As we near the end of our sophomore year, I think I have finally figured out how to keep myself motivated (even if it’s just a new TV show thats keeping me busy).
Hey Akanksha,
I agree that I was frightened to join clubs or get involved, just because I was warned so many times that it was be so hard to manage my time. Honestly, my involvement with different things so far in college has led to me staying up late many times and having stressful times – but, I also look back and realize that I wouldn’t want it any other way. Sure, some extra sleep here and there would be helpful, but I also wouldn’t have as many awesome memories to look back on.
So, knowing what I now know, if I were able to tell freshman self some advice, it would be to get as involved as I can, because I won’t remember doing homework, but I will remember the time that I spent with others being involved here.
I loved this, Akanksha. I have always been puzzled by people who do not do any extracurriculars. What do they do with most of their time? There are so many cool opportunities at each stage of our life that I would never want anyone to limit themselves to just one. Of course, it’s important to have that “hump,” the area where you particularly excel and put in a lot of effort. But a hump doesn’t mean a mountain with no other ground around it. I think it’s important to become well-rounded and learn through actual (and not only classroom) experience. You’d also probably be interested in this NY Times op-ed on how focusing on extra curriculars can improve high schools: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/30/opinion/sunday/fix-high-school-education.html