College Journey: Clubs and Why They're Important

College Journey is something I normally post on the last two Thursdays of each month, but as you may have seen in my wrap up, school has kept me a little too busy lately. So, yes, this is coming much later than I would have liked to have posted it, but I'm glad I was still able to post it because I truly do enjoy doing these. This week was originally going to be a dorm and campus tour, but I think I'll be saving that for next month and I fully plan to do a video for it (so I can more directly interact with you all) so please stay tuned. Now, this week's post is partly inspired by one of the things that's been keeping me rather busy- clubs.

What clubs I'm in

Last year I wasn't a part of any clubs but this year I wanted to stretch more around campus and had already been tapped to be part of Quiver last year before I even got to school this year. Quiver, which you may have seen me talking about, is one of my school's literary magazines (Premier Genre Magazine, I've written on all our social media platforms mostly because we are the only genre magazine on campus) and I'm not only an editor but I'm also the head of Public Relations which mean I run all the social media. I really enjoy it, but for the first two weeks I needed to figure out how to handle all of this and do a bit of a balancing act, which isn't always fun. It doesn't help that there wasn't a PR before this year so I'm stepping in and doing a lot of things new for the first time. I'm also a member of the school book club, which is something I'm doing with some friends. We read two or three books each semester, and the books are totally free and provided by the school. There have been two book club meetings so far, but none where we discuss the book since we only just started it. That book is The Blind Assassin and honestly I'm rather enjoying it so far. It does take some time to read but it's not a huge cut into my time so I'm not that disgruntled by it or anything. Also, I will be reviewing it here when I've finished it, so that's a plus! The last club is a club that doesn't quite exist yet, and that's Pokemon club. I'm actually helping a friend to get it started and if all goes as planned it should be up and running by Winter term and I'll be VP of the club.

Why join clubs

First of all, to meet new people. Whether you're new to the school and want friends or you just want to make connections to other people in your field, it's one of the best places to try. Clubs are always looking for new members and schools always want to support their clubs because it helps attract potential students. Another great reason to join a club is to get you out of your room and doing things regularly. Yes, this means you might be very busy (which is a state I'm not a fan of) but it can also mean that you don't have time to feel sad or lonely, especially if you're surrounded by people. I'm not saying it's a cure-all for depression, but honestly, it does help to get you motivated to get up each day if you struggle. One last great reason is because, hey, they're pretty fun most of the time. Hard work? Maybe. But they're your choice and you're doing it because you're enjoying it.

How to manage your time with clubs

This is something I'm still learning to do but I am beginning to get a grip on it, finally. The best way to manage clubs is to have a planner where you can break down events by the quarter hour mark. Since I couldn't find one of those planners (do they exist? who knows) I use an excel sheet that lets me glance at a week at a time and see how much free time I actually have and decide what I could use that free time on. Since making the excel sheet I will admit that a lot of the stress related to clubs and classes has gone down and my time management has gone up.

How to manage stress

Again, this is something I'm still working on, but even a work in progress picks up a few tips along the way. Number one is knowing how to relax is a top priority. For me, that's reading books for pleasure. I've managed to divvy up time these past few days where I can just read for an hour or so before I go to sleep and that always helps me wake up in the morning in a good mood. Sometimes this doesn't work out every night, and then the next day I do normally end up more stressed, but if you let that build up for too long you will find yourself meeting negative consequences. It's okay to force yourself to take a break and just relax, I promise, because even if it feels like you'll never wade through all your homework, after a respite you'll discover it's not actually that bad after all. Another great way to manage stress is to not over extend yourself. It's hard to say no sometimes, but if your club is demanding too much it's okay to take a step back and say you can't be at one meeting or you can't do one event, or you can only work on a project for half the time normally slated. Everyone gets overwhelmed and being a school club everyone should understand. If they don't, then don't work up about it and just realize you're in the right and that school should come first.

Do you have any club related advice? I'd love to hear it in the comments! And do you have any requests of places you'd like me to show in my tour of the campus? I'm going to try to include everything, but if there's something in particular you want to see please let me know.