DO YOU remember the time when you were excited to fill out every college application that you came across, with the thought that you’d finally start to pursue what you’d dreamed of ever since?
The thought that after enduring 6 years in high school, you are now stepping into the realm of pursuing your career with the excitement of gaining knowledge and insights into the field that you’ll be stepping into.
As freshmen, everything felt exciting to us. We romanticize university life; we are zealous about the coursework, and every waking day feels hopeful for us.
Every person that you’ve come to encounter is your friend, and we’d look at our seniors as we began to judge them for looking all grumpy and tired all the time.
In the classroom, we’d introduce ourselves to our professors and explain why we chose to pursue the course that we are currently taking. We’d give them a colorful description of why we went with it and often emphasize the phrase, “It’s my passion.”
Everything was perfect until it came to the point where schoolwork began piling up, as well as the stress of not being able to keep up with everything at once. Those blockmates that we’ve come to be our friends are starting to show their true colors, thus beginning a new insight into what kind of teamwork they’ll be in the future.
As high schoolers, we have a different view of how our college life would be, often romanticizing the so-called “new life” and “new beginnings.” But as time went on, we began seeing our uni-life go from ‘like the movies’ to just another day to attend to.
We stop seeing it as a chapter but rather began feeling it as a day to finish just because we have to.
From once being “it’s my passion,” the words became “it was my passion.”
From “It is,” to “It was”
Back in elementary school, when our teachers were teaching us proper grammatical use, we were taught the difference between “is” and “was,” just like with “they’re,” “there,” and “their.”
Whenever we use “is,” it’s stated with the current happenings, whereas when we use “was,” it’s stated with the past happenings.
Once the honeymoon phase of our uni-life reaches its end and the academic pressure starts to pile up where it starts affecting other aspects of our lives, it slowly leads to academic burnout.
Just like any other burnout, academic burnout usually starts with us feeling unmotivated to finish a task, regardless of its length and intensity.
What used to be easy for us felt arduous, thus slowly wearing off the delight that we once considered to be our passion.
As days went on, tasks became mundane. Our attitude towards our classes becomes caught in cynicism, making us question, “What’s the point? ” whenever we write our essays instead of taking pride in every word.
Later on, we start to become less motivated in our work, leading to procrastination on every task, which in turn reduces our academic accomplishments.
With these scenarios, we later find ourselves exhausted from the things that we once loved. Due to this, we began questioning ourselves whether we made the right decision to pursue the field.
Questions like, “Am I on the right path? ” or “Is this right for me? ” began lingering within our heads, leading us to consider taking another direction.
Is it time to shift?
By the time we reached the last 3 months of the first year’s second semester, we began hearing our blockmates whining about the hardships that they had encountered during the past semester. From there, you’d begin hearing things like, “magshishift na ako!” out of frustration.
Regardless of whether you’re close with that person, following the events that you’ve encountered, you yourself began thinking about whether or not you should consider shifting as well.
But before securing your final decision on shifting and starting with another course, you should ask yourself the following:
- Are you making a decision out of immediate feelings?
- What changed that made you pursue another course?
- Do you still see yourself working in this field after graduation?
Aside from asking yourself these questions, you should also ask for advice from your faculty chair/advisor for an opinion.
When not to shift
Making a final decision whether to shift from your current course can be hard, but if your heart still seeks the passion of being in the same field that you’ve always wanted to be, then listen to that and continue with what you’re doing.
It is no secret that each time you start a semester, the intensity of the workload heightens.
Having to adjust to the said workload intensity, as well as adjusting to another lifestyle to attain your education, is never easy, but you have to understand that there is no such thing as an easy course that will give you ongoing linear goals.
