Written by Joyelle Ronan
Graduating means saying goodbye to undergraduate exams, labs, and homework. But it also means saying goodbye to late night cav trips, Prez Ball, and living within walking distance to your best friends. Let’s be honest, going to a school as great as Roanoke doesn’t help the farewell process.
It’s completely natural to miss your time as a student but it’s important to make sure you’re keeping a healthy mindset about the future. With all the changes happening, it can get stressful. The good news is there are ways to help combat the postgrad pressures.
Keep connected
The friends you make in college can be friends that you have for life. Put forth the effort and time it takes to maintain those relationships. If you and your friends are living across the country, you can get creative. Instead of facetime, try a virtual game night through an app or watching a movie together with Netflix party installment. Before you know it, Alumni weekend will be here and you’ll get to see everyone again!
Therapy
Going to a counselor can be super helpful for talking through big changes. Whether you talked to one at RC or not, it can be beneficial for a short or longer period of time. Sometimes going to therapy can get expensive but there are different websites and apps you can use for virtual therapy. It’s a cheaper option and provides more flexibility.
Meditating
It can seem intimidating to meditate. It might evoke a mental image of someone sitting with their legs crossed, saying “om.” At its most basic level, meditation is just taking some time to center yourself. Take five to ten minutes every morning and just focus on tranquility and your mental stability. You can use this time to visualize what you plan to achieve that day or think of nothing at all. Consider it your daily dose of “me” time.
Get involved
A college campus can feel like it’s own little country, in Roanoke College’s case, a very small country. No matter where your future takes you, there are new people to meet, new restaurants to visit, and new things to learn. It’s the beginning of the rest of your life. Enjoy it! Just don’t forget that you will always be a Maroon and will always have a home in sunny Salem.
Congratulations Class of 2020!
