By Jacob Peller, Staff Writer

Published in print Aug.20, 2014

With summer break over and done, it’s time to pick up our pencils and start a brand new school year.

Many students dread this time, as it marks the end of their vacations and plunges them back into their daily routines of class and studying.

The impression I get from many people, especially those who are incoming freshman, is one of incomprehensible sadness about having to return to school; I call it, “back to school blues.”

This reaction is normal right?  Well, not really.

I don’t believe there is any such thing as back to school blues, and even if there is it most definitely doesn’t apply to everyone.

In my experience, the only ones who exhibit this hostility are either transfer students, or incoming freshmen.

For these students the beginning of the year is like a hurricane of anxiety, throwing them around like a hurricane.

The question is, why are students so upset with going back to school?

For many freshmen, this is their first real taste of freedom and the responsibilities that go with it.

Many students previously lived with family and had little control over their education.

But with college, you are flung into a situation where it is no longer your parent’s job to wake you up, make you breakfast, and get you to school on time. All responsibility begins and ends with you.

For many, this crushing taste of reality, topped with the sudden expulsion from where you’ve spent your life growing up, tends to be overwhelming; of course, this impacts freshmen most seriously.

I can recall from personal experience that my freshman year was spent more worrying about being on time than actually focusing in class.

It got to the point where at the end of the year I still needed my syllabus to check the time classes started because I was too worried I’d forget.

There is definitely pressure in going to college. It’s unlike anything that you’ve ever done or will do again.

Not to mention the fact that your actions have big consequences. For instance, if you want to skip class, you can, but only if you’re willing to make up everything you missed. In a sense, no one has the power to make you do anything that you don’t want to do, which creates an uncontrollable situation for many students.

Let’s face it, freshman year is full of paranoia that can drive anyone a bit mad.  This paranoid state, however, is completely avoidable by simply focusing on time management.

As a personal example, it took every ounce of my being to wake up and make it to class on time.

I had panic attacks when it came to being on time, so much so that I would arrive hours earlier just to make sure I could leave if it was the wrong room. I couldn’t understand how everyone else could just come back, pick their books up from the library and go straight to work. It seemed that everyone else understood something that I didn’t.

That was my freshman year; it was full of uncertainty and worry about time management. 

But as each subsequent year came and went, I began to adapt to my new environment and learned that I didn’t need to worry about being so early.

I came to find a fair schedule that allowed me to be on time without sitting around doing nothing waiting for each class to start.

This is my senior year, and looking back, I’m amazed at just how much my habits have changed.  Things that once caused me great stress and worry are now not even a concern to my scheduling.

So, it seems to me that this whole idea of “back to school blues” is more hype than anything else.

New environments and new experiences tend break us from our preformed habits, but this, like every new challenge in life, is one that we must strive to conquer and adapt to.

Now, if you do have the “blues” around this time I promise you that it won’t stick around for more than a week. 

And if you’ve done this before, then you’ll most likely know exactly what it is I’m referring to.

Yet, for those that are new to all of this, I can tell you that by trying your best and embracing new environments you’ll be able to find a piece of happiness and peace in the middle of Greensboro. 

So, good luck with your classes, and remember to take it one day at a time.