Max, Week 13 - Make Your Life Memorable
If you asked me what I spent my time on in freshman year, I honestly could not tell you.
Like most people, I had 0 AP courses and only English 9 Honors. I had health class, which I remember literally being a free period if you just paid attention during a short lecture. I had PE class, which never had any homework at all.
So what was I doing when I got home from school? How did I spend those seven hours every day? And why can’t I remember at all? I only remember playing video games, but I’m confident that it did not take seven hours of my time every day. Most likely, I was just on my phone the whole day. Depressing, I know.
As college applications now approach, I look more and more at my stats and my extracurriculars. The B I got in freshman year English is bringing my GPA down—I know I didn’t try hard enough. I look around me, and people have been engaging in their passions since freshman year or before, and all my extracurriculars started either this year or in late sophomore year.
Every time I think about college, I take on this mindset. What was I doing in freshman year? I wish I could relive that year to engage in the things I love, to start working toward success early. Maybe then my college application would be stronger, and I could be more successful overall: more social, more smart, and more passionate.
From these realizations, I have taken on a new mindset in life:
Make your year memorable. Do the things you truly love. Engage yourself fully in everything you do—don’t just let it pass by.
In the future, when I look back on my sophomore and junior years, I’m sure that I will remember more than I do about my freshman year (which was literally just 2 years ago). I will remember the grueling AP Lang annotations that I poured my heart into, the fun I had during spirit week and international week (I’m still pissed that we lost spirit week both years), the amazing badminton season, the hangouts between my friends and I, and so on…
If you ever find yourself bored or doom scrolling, just think about how depressing it would be in to realize that you could’ve done so much more and had so much more fun in the past. Get up and make your life memorable.
Hi Max! It is crazy how some people start building their stats and extracurriculars for college as early as freshman year or even before that. Like you mentioned, It sometimes angers me when I think about my academic performance freshman year because I literally had Bs in ICS and Spanish II. But in my defense my parents never told me I needed As and it was a rough transition from middle school as I had to balance school with sports for the first time. I really don’t think your single B in freshman year 9 Honors will make a difference in your college application and that class was definitely a challenging class to take, so be proud of yourself for even surviving that class! As college applications now approach, I agree that it gets very easy to compare your achievements with your peers and to pressure yourself to put in your best efforts in studying. I think my dad would love to hear that mindset you mentioned because his favorite quote is “The most important time in life is right now.” Also, you should spend less time on your phone and read books to your sister instead !
ReplyDeleteHi Max, I remember the early days of freshman year, when I would complain about the almost nonexistent amount of homework I got, or the short paragraph I was assigned in English. I definitely wasn’t an "academic weapon," absolutely bombing the _Romeo and Juliet_ test, yet somehow still getting an A; that’s how freshman year was. Yet despite the mundane life I seemed to live—nearly no homework and rarely hanging out with friends—I still believe my freshman year to be one filled with memories. It might not have been my best year, but it was one filled with laughs and sadness just like any other. It’s so scary when I open Reddit and go to the r/collegeresults subreddit and see people with 4.0’s and tons of extracurriculars and awards. Sometimes I regret the time I “waste,” but sometimes that “wasted” time is what makes life special and fun, because doing something you like is (a lot) more fun than mindlessly doom scrolling. I love your blog, especially the image because my screen time was equally crazy in freshman year.
ReplyDeleteHey Max, I can completely relate with your feelings of doing what feels like literally nothing in the years prior to freshman year. I too probably was wasting away my time playing Clash Royale, Rocket League, or something of that sort. However I think its important to note that although starting some extracurriculars in freshman year may have been helpful for developing your own passion and in college admissions, at the end of the day, it likely will not have a large-scale impact. College is simply a stepping stone for a later career and it doesn't define your life.
ReplyDeleteI also believe in your philosophy of making life memorable. This year in particular, I have found myself going to less family outings and spending less time with friends. Over these past few months, as many of my activities both in school and outside of school are reducing in workload, I have been trying to spend more time with my friends. For example, we played pickleball for three hours yesterday and have already planned an event this Friday. I think moments like these are where memories can be created and is something I can look upon fondly. Great blog post!
Hi Max,
ReplyDeleteThis blog article definitely can relate to my life. I also felt kind of aimless in freshman year, just whiling away all my time hoping opportunities would present themselves and I wouldn’t have to hunt for them. I didn’t really have to spend that much time on school since the classes were fairly straightforward and there wasn’t that much work compared to this year. However, things definitely started to pick up pace in sophomore and especially junior year when I really had to put in time and effort into school in order to get the grades that I wanted. Still, like you, I wonder if there’s more I could’ve done in freshman year, whether it be starting some passion project, taking part in additional club activities, maybe trying out a different sport? Maybe those experiences could have been really beneficial to me rather than whiling away all my time. Oh well. It’s not like we can do anything to change the past. And anyways, it’s not like a college application matters all that much. The admissions officers aren’t going to reject us just because we didn’t do more stuff in our freshman year. We can definitely make up for that to a high degree just by putting in as much effort as we can now.
-Ritwik