Many things in my life have changed since freshman year and my mindset has changed dramatically. I had my freshman year of high school online so when I think about my high school experience I think about it starting my sophomore year. When I first started high school I had much more "friends" than I do now. But they were simply school friends and I would hardly ever hang out with any of them outside of school. In comparison to my friends now, I have fewer friends but they are more real. These are friends I see outside of school daily and go out and do fun things together. My mindset as I have matured is that it is better to have a smaller circle that you are closer with and can tell anything to rather than a big circle with no trust and "fake" people. I also started recognizing more of what I like versus things I used to do because I had always done but did not enjoy it. For example, I had done dance since I was five until my junior year of high school. However, I never truly enjoyed it and had always wanted to quit. I started going to the gym at the beginning of junior year very casually and whenever I could around my school and dance schedule. I started looking forward to going to the gym because it was a good stress reliever where I could go and listen to music, talk to my friends, and move my body to feel better. Once I decided that I was going to quit dancing, I started going to the gym six days a week and it has been one of the only consistent things in my life. I learned how to work properly and this has led to some of my closest friendships and health choices. Another mindset change I have experienced is a change in how I use social media. I used to be very dependent on social media and would post so much of my life online. I started to post less and even made a whole new Instagram account where I post what I want and only follow who I like versus my old account that had over 1k people and I didn't know most of them. I would stress about getting the perfect pictures to post for my followers but now I just experience life and take pictures and if I like it I post it. This has helped me live in the moment more and by having a smaller, more friendly following I get even more support than I would on my old account. Another social media change is that I used to snap so many people every day but now I only respond to my friends and post on my private stories. By making my circle smaller and more real I have only experienced good things and I have learned how to have fun without technology. I have begun to go out more now that I can drive and have close friends and spend most of my free time on weekends hanging out with friends, and family, or being active at the gym or playing soccer with friends. I learned to prioritize things in my life that are important to me and I have learned to care more. For example, I realized that I much rather go out and spend money on a really good, personal gift for one of my close friends and spend time doing things we like together on their birthday rather than going to a bunch of pointless, "boring" birthday parties that I would procrastinate attending and be stressing about buying them a good gift because I barely knew them. By making simple changes and swaps in my life, my quality of life is much better and I have more meaning and things and people to look forward to.
Comments
Post a Comment