Adapting to Change

By Melanie Love Salazar
Web Content Contributor

There is a quote that states, “nothing is constant but change.”

I am beginning to realize how true that is, as I experience these first few weeks as a sophomore in college. As a freshman, I hoped COVID-19 would be something of the past by the time I began my second year. Although it did not exactly get better, the ways in which our society views it, I think, have shifted. Some of us are as cautious as we were when it started, and some of us are not. Some businesses still require masks, others will let you in regardless if you have one or not. Many more classes are in person, and a ton more students decided to actually step foot on campus this year. 

There have also been many that have taken place in my personal life, such as moving into my first apartment.

 I am paying rent now.  

As someone who never has, it feels weird to type. I have also never had roommates that weren’t related to me, and it’s all just very different. A lot of these changes are ones that come with various joyful memories already made, and I know, a lot to come.

Nonetheless, change can be hard to adjust to. I like trying new things as much as the next person, but I also enjoy having some sort of consistency in my life. I feel like I thrive with routines, and every now and then, changing it up.

I would like to offer some great advice on how to adjust to change, but I am still trying to figure it out.

The one thing I have found as an absolute help is having at least one to three things you do each day, no matter what. Personally, on a good day, that’s reading or writing, and when I am having my alone time in the morning while I drink my coffee and do some sort of exercise.

But, sometimes, the only thing that stays consistent is brushing my teeth and my skin routine.

It happens.

And honestly, even having those acts as an absolute helps me just a little. In uncontrollable times of change, I think we really can only look for the things that we know don’t.

I hope to get better with this as time goes on because the more experience I get in “adulting,” the more confused I seem to have become. No one told me that would happen!

Featured Image by Melanie Love Salazar