Reflection on College Living

I've seen a couple videos from regular vlogs I keep up on weekly in regards to mental health, this time on college living. One from The Emmy R and the other From Miss Lizenka. I'll link them before moving on with my own experiences so you can get their perspectives as well. They both have good information. I would like to add to their input based on reflection having graduated a couple years ago.

Emmy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3YhJuu5Hx0
Liza: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnPz2S8F6iY

The Questions Are:
1)did you ever consider any other living options?
2)in relation to mental health how had living on campus effected you?
3)if you could change your living situation for collage would you? why?


Freshman year I chose to live in a freshman only residence hall thinking everyone was new and therefore it would be an environment where we all struggled together and made good friendships. The opposite kind of happened though, where everyone was free from their parents for the first time and most of the people there caused a lot of trouble. My recommendation to freshman would be to pick out a residence hall with a variety of people. Freshman to struggle along with and the more senior students to help mentor you along the way as you come along stressful times and any questions. My resident assistant who was a couple years ahead was a great person to talk to or just to chill with during a stressful time.

I can't really say I had any positive experience with roommates, but I did learn about different types of people and how to better deal with people. What it comes down to though, the roommates greatly impacted my mental health. I'll provide an overview of the different situations I was in. I'm not entirely against roommates, but keep the situations in mind when thinking about living with someone.

Freshman (1st) year my roommate and I got along fairly well the first semester, but not so much the second. My self harm and major depression were largely a part of me by the end of the first semester my freshman year and the second semester only isolated me more. My roommate would come in at late hours of the night and turn on the lights or play loud video games, waking me up. This contributed to a lack of sleep which in return impacted my ability to get the rest I needed to focus and think more clearly.

Sophomore (2nd) and Junior (3rd) years my roommates left after the first semester and I would have the room to myself for the final semester of the year. Both once again had some issues, but unlike my first roommate, both were more accepting of me. I found living on my own in the college residence hall to be both helpful and hard. The situation was helpful in that I could focus on myself without having to worry about someone else contributing to my downfall. Being close to on-campus friends, dining, and assistance was also a plus. What made living alone hard was that I could dwell in my sadness and really didn't have anyone around to talk to because I could just sit around in my room. Looking back this is also where some great distractions I've mentioned or others from fellow blogs could be utilized.

Senior (4th) year was my breaking point. I actually started out with a single room all to myself, but I do not attribute that to my problems, rather, the problems I had with some of the staff at the college sent me into a further downward spiral. I had to leave for a year and come back a 5th so I could focus on myself and getting better. When I returned the following year I actually stayed in an apartment off-campus roughly 1-2 miles away. Being 1-2 miles away with sidewalks all the way to the college is one of the reasons I would advocate living off campus. Every day I had class I had to get up and walk to the college. This resulted in a lot of physical exercise which also helps with better mental health. By living off campus I was also responsible for paying monthly bills, going to the grocery store and making my own meals. All of this contributed to focus on myself and providing things to keep busy with.

If I had to go through college again though I would have tried to make a few more friends, and not just friends, ones that would hopefully last. It would have been a better experience had I known a few people to hang out with during the evenings and on weekends, maybe even live with off campus. One semester I had a group of friends to hang out with on a regular basis and it helped to an extent. When surrounded by other people it was harder for me to fall into myself and my ways of dealing with things.

So to sum things up I tried residence hall living with and without a roommate and off-campus living. Living on campus for me was more of a negative impact but taught me a lot if we focus on the positive side and I definitely think having some good friends and one of them as a roommate would benefit.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading and I hope the information helps!