I don’t remember the first time I met Dr. Bieschke, but I know I called her Dean Bieschke. Even writing this now, I have to consciously write Dr. instead of Dean since I will always think of her as Dean Bieschke. It was lovely getting to see and hear Dr. Bieschke again, but it also got me thinking back to my first year at Penn State. I’ve decided to identify some things that I did or thought then that I want to bring back.
Briefly, I’ll digress and mention the last time I had wrote about an aspiration. I wrote about Cal Newport’s “Deep Work” and my want to decrease my social media use. I have been mostly successful on this front. I no longer maintain a Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat or Twitter account. I barely check LinkedIn, though I still have an account. I want to decrease my screen time even further, but I’m pretty happy with my progress concerning social media.
Document each day. At the end of each day, throughout my entire first year of college, I documented it. Both with a photo and text. Sometimes it was a quick comment, sometimes it was a recap of the entire day. It made me realize how important it is to be intentional about each day and what we choose to do during it. I don’t plan to do it in the same way I did back then, but I do want to continue the practice.
Have a greater zeal. As I’ve gone through Penn State, I’ve lost some of the zeal I had my first year. Though this makes sense, I really think life’s better when you’re able to stay young at heart even when you’re old in the head (and body; though I doubt I qualify as old in the traditional sense). I’ve become disillusioned and jaded about many things, and I want to work to acknowledge those feelings but also cultivate better ones.
Invest in people. I spent much of my first year investing in people. In fact, I’ve spent much of college investing in people. This one is less of a “return” to and more of a “be more conscious of.” Both of whom I’m spending my time with and what we’re getting out of time spent. I think one of the best things about Penn State (and PLA) has been some of the incredible people I’ve met, like Dr. Bieschke.
Moving forward, I’ll see if I improve on these things. Senior year has been a lot more work than I expected, and the doom of the future continues to loom.
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