Bella: Hello Lakers, welcome back to the “I’m Doing Fine” podcast. We have our very first one of the year, I’m so excited. This is Bella, pronouns she/her/hers, I’m returning as a peer ed and but I have very exciting introductions from our other new peer eds this year. And whoever would like to go first.

Emily: Hi guys, I’m Emily. I’m a new peer ed, and I’m a senior studying psychology. My pronouns are she/her/hers, and I’m excited to be here.

Katie: Hi guys, my name is Katie, pronouns she/her/hers, and I’m a junior this year, also studying psychology, and I’m excited to see what the year brings and be here as well.

Keegan: Hi everyone, my name is Keegan, and my pronouns are she/her/hers. I am a senior here at GV as a psych major, and I’m really looking forward to working with my fellow peer eds.

Bella: Woo! And in addition to these lovely fresh faces here in the university counseling center recording our podcast, we have a couple other updates from over the summer. So, we have some new mental health screening kiosks. If you saw my last takeover, you would have been familiarized with the one downtown in the DeVos building, right by the Van Gogh painting, and there is also one in, do y’all know the one in Kirkhof?

Emily: Kirkhof, right by the 20/20 desk.

Bella: Exactly. Exactly right. And feel free to stop at those, it’s a very brief screening. We also have new artwork that is encouraging you to check out the mental health screenings, see if you can find them all, have a scavenger hunt. A hint is, a couple of them are in the Ravines mail center, The Connection, Kleiner, and MAK. But it is up to you all to find the rest of them. And, we also have more takeovers in the future.

Emily: Yeah, so, the next takeover is on October 11, it’s on our Instagram, and I’m gonna be going around to people on campus and asking different ways that people cope with midterm stress and what kind of study tips and self-care tips they’re using.

Bella: Fantastic. So, keep your eyes peeled for that if you would like to be one of the lucky interviewees. And so, that is kind of what’s new. And speaking of what else is new, we also have a new semester, which I am still adjusting to. So that brings us to the topic of today’s podcast, which would be, School: Expectations versus Reality. So, I’ll go ahead and start with my expectations. I pretty much expected to get lost every day in MAK. I was expecting really not to meet anyone new as a senior I thought I kind of would just be in classes with the same people, not really getting out as much as I wanted to, and I expected I wouldn’t change my schedule. I thought that everything would go as planned.

Keegan: I think that’s important too Bella, like we have this set of ideas like oh I’m gonna take these classes but then you might get to that class you’re like, absolutely not. This is not the right fit for me, like, whether it be the class or the professor, it’s okay to change your mind, I think that’s really important.

Katie: I was like, queen of like, I’m sticking to this schedule, I’m gonna just suffer through it, and then I was like no, I’m switching, and I did that at least four or five times like the first week, I swear.

Bella: Oh, and y’all should see Katie’s schedule. It’s color blocked and there’s every color of the rainbow on there.

Emily: So my expectations, this is Emily by the way, my expectations was, I actually had a very busy summer, which was good, I had a lot of good experiences, but I thought that coming into this school year I had a lot more free time. Yeah, so that was my expectation.

Katie: So I can add on to that, I was also very like, this summer was also really busy for me and I was like, but what did I do, I crammed my schedule for this next year, so I was like, very anticipating like, I’m gonna be staying up late doing homework all the time. But I also anticipated having all in person classes, and, the first week I found out professors got switched, three of them got switched to online, so that also was a little bit of a culture shock because I just got used to being back in person. Then going back online was like whoa, what’s this, this is like old but new, I don’t know. And then I was like I actually do have time for homework, so.

Bella: You bring up a really good point about things being switched from online to in person, where, we’re still, I believe it was, the president just recently, like the president of the United States, just said that the COVID pandemic was over. And so, yeah, I think it was the 18th he officially declared it, and I still don’t even know what to expect. There’s so many artifacts from the pandemic that are still left over, like hybrid classes, so, things are weird, it’s hard to know what’s coming next.

Katie: COVID is still here, it’s like you might like last minute get an email from your professor like five minutes before class, like hey I can’t come to class today, or like class is going to be late, or whatever format, maybe we’re switching to online, all online, I know that happened to someone last year, so, just gotta adjust to-

Keegan: Yeah, I was gonna say, I think part of like being a student right now is having to be flexible. So, expectation, I was very afraid of the Laker Line. The Laker Line, I saw it coming down the street and I got the chills. But, I was really afraid to ride the Laker Line, as a senior I transferred in, but I had never had to ride before. But, I have a downtown class this semester, so I was like ya know what, I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna ride the Laker Line. And it’s, going okay.

Katie: Have you had the experience like standing up all the way downtown?

Keegan: Yes.

Bella: It’s a core workout.

Katie: I don’t know, we were talking about the Laker Line, and the Rapid last week, and I always express my love for the Rapid. It’s like I love the Rapid, I take it every day to class and stuff.

Bella: Yeah, so, like building off of that then, Keegan, you said you were afraid of the Laker Line. But, it turned out okay, so, how did your expectations differ from the reality I guess of your school year so far.

Keegan: Yeah, that reality of it is that the Laker Line is really not that scary. Shout out to anybody who is afraid to ride the Laker Line on our podcast. This one’s for you. It’s really not that bad. You get on, you can the app I think, there’s an app I think? Yeah. And it will tell you what the stops are and what time the buses are coming. But, yeah, I rode it I think the Sunday before we started classes just to get familiar. So if that’s something that might work for you, that really worked for me. But yeah, it’s really not that bad, and I just put my headphones in and I’m cruising on the Laker Line.

Katie: And even like not just for classes, the Laker Line takes you so many cool places downtown. You can just like stop and get off on Fulton street I think and go to the John Ball Zoo, Medical Mile if you’re doing like events at the hospital, like volunteer or internships it drops you off there. So it’s really useful in that you don’t have to park downtown.

Keegan: Yeah, I know there was people that rode it for the Pitbull concert. Which made me laugh, but I mean it’s like an intentional way of using it.

Katie: And the app that I use is called MyStop. It shows the routes of the Laker Line, but also shows the routes of the Rapid. So you can always pick and choose which one you’re looking at.

Bella: Fore sure. Speaking of downtown, so my reality compared to my expectations. One reality that I wasn’t even expecting was getting used to downtown again. It is such a vibrant place, there’s a lot of things to do, and it’s even busier than it used to be. I’ve lived downtown now for, since my sophomore year of college, and things are a little different. Especially the bus stop changed on me. That was a little confusing the first day I was waiting and there was like no Laker Line, and I was like oh. I’m in the wrong spot. But that’s, ya know, I’m not upset by the reality, it’s just different. And, another reality, I only get lost sometimes in MAK. I was halfway right. But yeah, I think Keegan you had mentioned being flexible, so that’s just, yeah, something I’ve learned so far. But, how about all of y’all realities?

Emily: Yeah, so, what I said is that I thought I would have more free time. The reality is that didn’t really check out I still am pretty busy. But it’s been really nice because I haven’t really had to use a lot of transportation, because I’m like really close to campus. So I’ve been finding more little things that I can do during my free time that kind of split up my day. So I go on walks, I go get coffee in between classes. So, yeah, I am still busy but, I’m figuring out ways to make my time, manage my time better.

Katie: Yeah, I would say that’s definitely a new reality for me too, like, I just expected my time management skills to go through the roof. But, as it turns out, like I said, classes online now. It does give me more flexibility and more time for homework because, as you guys probably know, online classes don’t run the whole time, which is really nice when you have little gaps in between. Maybe you have like 30 minutes and you can complete a small assignment, which has really worked out for me, cause I’ve a lot of busy work this semester, as well as like large projects. But yeah, I also did not anticipate like loving my planner so much. I write down every single thing, it’s, like they said, color coded, it has all, everything that I do, and it’s really helped me, so.

Emily: Same. Also, Google calendar.

Katie: For sure.

Emily: Yeah, I recently discovered Google calendar this summer and it has saved my life. I know exactly where I’m supposed to be, every day when I wake up I go on and I see every single thing.

Katie: Not only can you see where you’re supposed to be but if you share a Google calendar with your family, you can see where you’re mom is supposed to be, like, oh, my mom has a dentist appointment today.

Emily: Something that’s kind of fun, which is kind of off topic, but, Google calendar wise, my friends and I, we never had, we were always so bad at figuring out time we’re all free. So we share Google calendars so now we can see where the gap is.

Keegan: Yeah, I have a roommate calendar, yup.

Katie: We have a Google calendar, and a roommate whiteboard calendar in our apartment, which has been really helpful because sometimes we’re like we should be here for actual dinner.

Emily: So that’s the reality, is busy but organized.

Katie: I like it.

Bella: Definitely. And, I really appreciate all of us sharing the reality, no matter if it’s messy, easy, hard, whatever it may be. It seems it’s not easy, we’re all trying to adjust, and we’ve given some practical tips here, especially Google calendar, I’ve heard many good things about it. And I also think it would be a good idea to talk about, um, other ways we can cope with that adjustment, uh, specifically with perfectionism and having a growth mindset, because we’re all students and school, it’s hard, there’s a lot going on, clubs, classes, making friends. So, this exercise looking at our expectations and realities, that’s one thing you can do. Managing your expectations. Have we been proven wrong about our worries in the past? And, it’s okay to not know what’s next, but, making sure that we’re kind of checking in with ourselves, and, that’s okay.

Katie: And like, things are gonna go wrong, but you can’t have a negative mindset. You gotta keep thinking like okay, maybe it didn’t go how I anticipated but how can I make this so it will still work for me. And you’re in college, you’re not gonna know every right answer, every right choice, and there’s plenty of people here to help you guide you. You can go to an advisor if you’re struggling with like what do I do with classes, or you can use the tutoring center for studying skills, like stuff like that like, it’s okay to not know what to do and to ask for help, which is something I realized, like I don’t have to be so perfect I don’t have to have, know exactly what I’m doing and be the one that doesn’t ask for help because you’re in college and you’re honestly supposed to ask for help. Which for me, kind of gets into grades, which I feel like in high school, at least for me, I was very much like straight A student like you need to get an A, even like that little negative sign next to the A, that’s bad. The reality, that is not true. Because all that really matters is that you’re putting in the best effort that you can do and that you’re trying to understand the material and that you’re not just doing it simply for that perfect A with no negative sign. But yeah, it’s really the effort that matters not the grade.

Emily: Yeah, I agree. And I think another thing that kind of helps with that growth mindset is taking small breaks when you need them. I know like in high school I was very much go, go, go, and I’m sure a lot of people were as well. But I realized during my time here that small breaks, I made this last week, small breaks keep you from breaking down. If you just take the time for yourself, even if it’s a couple minutes in between classes or, ya know like a half-hour of just break from, maybe from your phone, maybe from your computer, just to get a coffee, take a walk, it’s really helpful for not only your mental health, but it will end up helping in your academics.

Katie: And for all those Colin [-] fans take that 30 minutes…to read four chapters of that really addicting book, and like even though it’s not school, it’s still like educational and it gives you a little mind break and they’re really addicting to read, so.

Keegan: I know for me personally, I use reading as a free time activity a lot. That and naps. I’m a true believer in a nap. But, I think one thing about the growth mindset is being able to realize, kind of like how Emily said, the small breaks. And part of that is like working on managing your work load. So, understanding that like, like Emily said, you don’t have to be on the go all the time, but understanding how to manage your schedule, and, even if you don’t necessarily have “free time,” being able to look at your schedule and being able to adjust it or just saying, ya know what this can wait until later or this can wait until tomorrow I think. Be open to change. Flexibility.

Bella: Awesome job y’all. I think this is really solid advice. We’ve heard a lot about the things that we can do the things that we can change in our schedule to maybe go easier on ourselves and our mindset. And that’s okay if some of these strategies aren’t working out for you. Maybe you need a little bit extra support. And that’s where the UCC can come in. You can always seek out services at the counseling center, check out of the website. You can check out our awesome self-help directory if maybe you’re not quite ready to step inside the center yet. So, it’s okay to need a little bit extra support, and know when it's not as easy as following advice.

Katie: And like look up our Instagram posts. There’s lots of like, really nice self-help, self-care tips that they post on a daily basis that I see, even just this week and, they’re really good advice. So even like small little things like that can help.

Bella: Absolutely.

Emily: And don’t be afraid to reflect on what you’re doing in life. It’s okay that reality isn’t what we thought.

Bella: Absolutely. And so I think that this has been a fantastic first episode, and with change, you may not have been expecting this, but we have a new ending segment. We are introducing something called “Peer Ed Picks.” And that will include just things that we like, things that are keeping us afloat during our school year. Songs, music, poetry, TV shows, any resources we’d like to share for fun. And so, we have some suggestions for things you can do with your free time, that you’re incorporating into your growth mindset schedule. So, my pick this week is a song. It is Polly by Dora Jar. And, y’all may have heard of her.

Keegan: I haven’t, but I feel like I’m gonna have to go listen to it after this.

Bella: Okay, I have to put you all on, because, she’s starting to go mainstream now, she’s opening for Billie Eilish I think. Yes. Her music is so unique and upbeat and it just gets me in a good headspace. I don’t know, I just need more artists that have something really unique to offer. But, that is my pick of the week.

Katie: In keeping with that. I’ve also been listening to, well specifically an artist that I chose this song. If you have seen Dear Evan Hansen, or Pitch Perfect, you’ve probably heard of Ben Platt. And, he is just a really good contemporary artist, and his song Grow As We Go, it’s off one of his older albums but I’ve been like listening to it but actually like brushed up on my playlist and I heard it at the gym and I was like, this is like, this is so fitting I was like, growing from your expectations to your reality, this is exactly like what I thought was like what that reminded me of. If you guys give him a listen, not just this song, but like his new album, it’s great, and it really just like calms you down and it’s really helpful to listen to.

Keegan: So, for my peer ed pick, I chose a song that’s titled No Matter Where You Are by Us the Duo. I’m gonna be completely honest, I was trying to find a song before our podcast, and I’m like what’s an inspirational song on my playlist? So I found this one, but whenever it does pop up, I really am a fan of it. They were like featured on America’s Got Talent, but, the song overall is just kind of like, whether it’s in a relationship, like romantic relationship or friendship, just like sticking by your people, you know, through thick and thin. So I thought that was very inspirational.

Emily: And I decided to go more with a different route. So, I do love music, but I’m a really big show and movie kind of gal. So recently, I mean probably for almost two years now, I’m going back to New Girl, which I’m sure almost everyone on this podcast has probably heard of. It’s a good comedy and it’s really easy, it’s an easy watch, and you can put it on in the background. I do it when I’m doing homework. I’ve seen every episode a couple times. It’s just really fun, so if you just wanna give that a watch, I think that will be really relaxing, something you can do in your free time.

Bella: Absolutely. So, that concludes our first episode of the semester. I’m so excited. I think it went well. And we can only improve from here. So, thank you all so much for joining us. We hope to talk to you next time, and please take care.