Andrew's Declassified College Survival Guide - Harding Edition

I have dealt with so many transitions since coming to Harding and as a senior coming to the end of my time here at Harding University this December, I would like to offer up a few tips on how you can make the most out of your time at Harding. I'll be looking at three main topics in this post:

1) Making the Most out of the Cafeteria
2) Utilizing the GAC
3) Sleep & How you Can Somehow Get Some of It

Exploring the Cafeteria

One of the hardest things to overcome when trying to transition to college is the cafeteria, a place where you can essentially eat as much pizza, french fries, and Yarnell's ice cream as your stomach could possibly bear. For many like the freshman version of myself, this is a dream come true after spending the first 18 years of your life being told what you could and could not eat from your parents or guardians. Here at Harding with us choosing how many swipes into the CAF we get each semester, there is this internal pressure (or often times exterior - "Thanks Mom") to use all of your swipes as to not lose them at the end of the semester, thus thrusting many into the state of eating 4 or 5 meals a day. While it might seem like an impossible task to eat healthy in the CAF, you CAN in fact begin to live a healthy lifestyle while eating there. 

• Eat breakfast either in your room or in the CAF as much as you can. It will keep you from overeating during lunch or dinner, decreasing your total calorie count for the day as most breakfast foods tend to be healthier than those offered during lunch or dinner.
• Grab an apple on the way out every chance you get! If you have it in your backpack, you will most certainly eat it throughout the day, making you less hungry for those sudden Chick-Fil-A cravings.
• Fill your plate with at least one vegetable & one fruit every meal! Fruits & vegetables are full of essential nutrients & vitamins, as well as low calorie counts, compared to most of the items you'll find in the Exhibition & Comfort lines.

Utilizing the GAC

Likely one of the most underused resources here at Harding is the Ganus Athletic Center. Due to our busy schedules, a large number of Harding students simply choose to not utilize the facilities in the GAC other than Wellness or an activity class we must all take during our time at Harding. While the GAC is not the most state-of-the-art facility (Soon it will be!!), the ability to have in essence a health club right here on campus as part of your yearly cost of attendance is a great thing! When you feel overwhelmed with your studies, especially these next two weeks with Dead Week & Finals underway, take 30-45 minutes just to play a game of racquetball with a friend, take a jog on the treadmill, or play a pick-up game of basketball. Even just 30 minutes of activity every day can make a huge difference in combating the Freshman 15.

College's Most Cherished Commodity: SLEEP

Likely the hardest part of the transition to college is the huge amount of things we tend to balance. Between classes, work, social clubs, club sports, team meetings, extracurricular activities, and Netflix, many of us can never seem to find the time to get a good night's sleep, especially during these last two weeks of the semester. Studies show that as many as 73% of a college's student body will suffer from sleep related issues, such as general fatigue, lack of focus, and even decreases in neurological functioning in the brain that focuses on judgement and retaining of information. While about 35% of most college students will get at least 7 hours of sleep every weeknight (the suggested amount for people ages 18-24), as many as 40% report only getting on average 5 hours or less every night. In the moment, it can seem like studying all night for that Anatomy Final is all that matters in your world, but we must remember that our worth does not come from whether we graduate with a 4.0 GPA. Here are a few suggestions regarding sleep while in college.

• Go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day - While this might seem like an impossible task, studies have shown that people who regularly go to sleep and wake up around the same time every day report waking up much more refreshed in the morning and having more energy throughout the day. This has to do with our internal clocks, the Circadian cycles our bodies strive to achieve and find rhythm with. Do your best to get to sleep at a regular time every day and you might see improved energy without even increasing the amount of sleep you get every night
• TAKE NAPS!! - Naps might just be the greatest invention since Netflix. Okay, maybe not, but they are still pretty great! As Jenna mentioned in her article about "Get Creative", even a 15 minute nap or simply lying in the Heritage with your eyes closed for a short period can make a world of difference for you during a long day of studying. Our bodies are not meant to go 16+ hours a day without rest, so finding time during the day to enjoy the weather outside across campus or even sharing a meal on the Front Lawn can really help you feel refreshed.
• Keep your phone away from your bed - This might be harder to do in rooms where your desk, TV, etc. are all with your bed, but keeping your cell phone away from your bed will not only keep you from checking it when you lie down for bed & keeping you from falling asleep, but will also make you actually get out of bed to turn off your alarm, greatly increasing your chances of staying awake the first time

While there is so much more I could tell you about how to not only survive college, but more importantly how to thrive, I hope the tips I have provided give you the confidence to know that you can in fact succeed in college! College really is some of the best years of your life where you learn so many lessons about life, relationships, and your personal relationship with God. If you only take one thing from this post, please focus in on this:

10 years after you graduate, no one is going to focus on what your GPA was, how popular you were in your social club or if you got queened/beauxed, if you were captain of the football team or head cheerleader, or even how many friends you had. What really matters during your time at Harding is what influence you had on those around you. 

Did you make people smile when they were around you? Did you take every opportunity to share God's love with others? Did you take every day, every moment as a beautiful gift from God? 

Focus on living in the moment, taking in the beautiful flowers on the Front Lawn or the beautiful singing in Chapel and seeing them as God telling you: "I didn't have to make this, but I did so as a sign of my love for you"

Thank you for checking out this post and I hope you all have a successful Finals Week and a blessed summer!