This last column marks the end of my first summer in Berkeley, and it’s definitely been an interesting one for me. It was my first summer away from home, away from family and away from hometown friends. When I decided to stay in Berkeley and do a summer session to lighten the academic load of future semesters, I figured that class wouldn’t be a big deal and that I’d have an incredible amount of free time to explore Berkeley and the Bay Area. But my one summer class was surprisingly time-consuming, as it was a semester-long class packed into an eight-week period. The last thing I expected to stand in the way of me and a spectacular summer was my health. I’ve always been health-conscious — I write this column, after all. But weekly physical therapy for a lower-back injury and a lingering bacterial infection meant that I’d be spending a significant amount of time in different doctors’ offices.
Halfway through the summer, I figured that I shouldn’t have high hopes for the latter half. I was sure my back pain wouldn’t allow me to do the things that I enjoyed — my grandiose vision of a summer exercise regimen was erased when my physical therapist explained that even one sit-up would be too physically taxing. And class and medical appointments would take away time that could be spent with friends.
But despite these issues, which seemed like barriers to an otherwise amazing summer in Berkeley, I came to truly appreciate the last few months. Although I was busy with class, health appointments and clubs, I managed to go on some awesome weekend road trips, and I even biked across the Golden Gate Bridge. I met new people and established new friendships. And, in doing so, I continued to think about the kind of person I want to be and the kinds of people I want to surround myself with. My hours spent in waiting rooms made me realize just how fragile health is and how disheartening it is to constantly worry about it. It pushed me to become healthier by taking the necessary time out of my day to focus on my body.
Before I sat down to write this, a friend of mine suggested that I write about being open-minded toward the people that we meet. But, for some reason, that got me to start reflecting on the past few months. In light of the unexpected direction my summer took, I thought it would be interesting to extend that notion of open-mindedness even further and have it apply to our outlook on life in general.
We typically approach situations with expectations and preconceived notions, much like I did coming into the summer. In college, we have expectations about our grades, about the people we want to meet, about our romantic interests and about our physical appearances and health. Expectations are absolutely necessary — they provide the motivational spark that drives us to reach our goals. But we need to make sure that we’re not narrow-minded and solely focusing on goals we need to achieve. Instead, we need to be open-minded.
Widen your view to include all of the possibilities and opportunities that you might encounter along the way. Let in the possibility that you might not even accomplish what you wanted to; if you’re truly set on accomplishing something and it doesn’t go as expected, odds are that you gained something through a new friendship, a new experience, a new motivation, a new idea and a new goal to pursue.
Our mindset is everything. Approaching your life with a one-track mindset and refusing to accept or adapt to a situation can really do some damage. Instead of focusing on what’s there, you start focusing on what’s not, and instead of focusing on the people around you, you begin ignoring the impact they can have on you. It’ll continue to drain you psychologically until you learn to live with what you have and wholeheartedly embrace the alternate route that you’ve been presented with.
I came in to the summer with a vision of what my three summer months would be like, and that vision was shattered pretty quickly. I felt as though the summer would go to waste. Instead, it took a different — albeit equally satisfying — direction. Now I know not to lament or linger around unfulfilled expectations and instead to just go with the flow.
Whether we are incoming freshmen or rising seniors, we are all coming in with grand expectations for the upcoming year in Berkeley. My advice? Go for it. Try to get amazing grades. Have the social life that you’re picturing. Use every weekend to explore this city. Set enough time to exercise as much as you can. Meet new people. But if you can’t check everything off of this short but monumental list, then so it goes. Most of all, know that no matter what, you’ll come out of this year with new experiences — ultimately, you’ll be happy you did so.
Shahin Firouzbakht writes a Thursday column on health issues affecting student life.
Contact Shahin Firouzbakht at [email protected].