My College Journey Assignment

Justin L’Heureux

IDS 1107

Professor Pfaff

26 September 2021

My college journey so far has been very complicated. College itself hasn’t been too bad,

it’s the things that are happening out of college in my general life that are carrying the majority

of the stress. College has been nice to me so far, but the assignments are picking up for lots of

my classes which forces me to make a schedule, writing all of my assignments out. For instance,

this past week I’ve had an exam, at least 10 homework assignments, and a speech coming up.

Making a schedule really helps me to plan out my day so that I can free up some time for myself.

My college journey so far has been complex regarding my strengths and weaknesses, time

management, and outside of the classroom.

Coming into college, my strengths and weaknesses in college were pretty prevalent. My

strengths included my academic work ethic and completing assignments on time. My

weaknesses included balancing school time and leisure time and participating in school events.

When I look at the college experience, the first thing that comes to my mind is schoolwork and

homework. This plays a part in my strengths and in my weaknesses. Regarding my strengths, it

helps form my academic work ethic because I’m so centered around the schoolwork that I’m

more inclined to get it completed. Schoolwork has forced me to create a schedule around my day

which has given me some more freedom and has alleviated some excess stress about completing

assignments. Regarding my weaknesses, viewing college as just coursework has clouded my

view of what else college has to offer. So far, there hasn’t been much free time for other college
activities because of work, leisure time, and completing schoolwork. This is a weakness that I

need to work on because the college experience results in lifelong friends, networking for future

careers, and making connections around campus. Putting myself out there in college activities

could help me make connections and make new friends that have the same interests as I do. I

think the things that are limiting me participating in college activities is that I tend to get anxious

whenever participating in something that I’m not familiar with, and I don’t have much free time,

even on the weekends, for events that are around campus. Some things that I can do to help me

with this is making a more detailed schedule, with specific events that I do every day, and to help

with social anxiety I think that I just need to get past the nervous stage and just do it.

Time management in college has been a journey for me so far. Planning out my

assignments and schoolwork isn’t a problem for me. The thing that I struggle with is planning

out the rest of my day excluding the schoolwork. Even with my schoolwork, I don’t really

specify the exact assignments and what to do, I just list the assignments that need to be

completed that day. I think that specifying the exact schoolwork could help me free up some

more free time. For example, I could say “Work on introduction for Informative Speech” instead

of just “Informative Speech due”. Another thing that I struggle with is that I get homework

anxiety which causes me to work on the assignments as soon as they’re assigned so that I don’t

get stressed later on in the week when they’re due. This results in me having less time for leisure

time and free time because during the beginning of the week, I bombard myself with homework.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the feeling of completing assignments, but I also enjoy free time to

myself and not feeling overwhelmed.

Outside of college, my mental health has been affecting my college journey and

experiences in college. Lately, I’ve been feeling very overwhelmed with school, my relationship,
work, and lots of other things. This has been affecting my schoolwork and my attitude towards

college. I think that something that could help me is the free counseling that Seminole State

offers. This may help alleviate some of the anxiety that I’m having. Even though it may be

uncomfortable talking about my feelings, I think it will help me in all aspects of my life. This is a

helpful resource that the college offers to any student that is struggling with their mental health

during the school year. This resource doesn’t only help students with their mental health, this

resource also aids students in times of crisis like a family member passing away or a relationship

not working out. I would like to see myself mustering up the courage to visit the counselor from

time to time when things get a little rough. I think that this can help me stay on track in college

and help maintain my college lifestyle. Something I struggle with is asking for help because I

think that my problems projected onto other people will cause them to carry the burden of my

problems as well. This goes for all aspects of my life including school, work, home, and social. I

think that letting the people that care about me and professionals, such as the counselor, help me

in times of crisis, will help to lift the level of stress and anxiety I’m feeling on a day to day basis.

In conclusion, my college journey has been complicated so far to say the least. I’ve

learned about my strengths and weaknesses, how to properly time manage my schedule, and how

life outside the classroom can impact inside the classroom. Ultimately, it’s important to realize

that college is so much more than just assignments and essays, it’s about making connections and

lifelong friends along the way. College has so many more positives than negatives and people

need to stop associating college with stress and late-night studying. Well sometimes life gets in

the way and there are the odd nights out where that occurs, but generally college life is the best

part in many peoples’ lives.