I know that right now I am not mentally focused. I am not as focused on classes, and despite the fact that most classes are in the A range for me, my harder classes such as calculus are not. This fundamental laziness is carrying over from the type of life I have been living since summer. It all started in the second semester of my senior year. This is when the most common and infectious condition to ever infect mankind infected me: senioritis. The desire to not work spread from all my classes to eventually my whole life. It was no longer just not being able to do my assigned reading of War and Peace; it was also affecting my overall focus in different aspects of my life. It ranged from in the classroom to completely unmotivated workouts. This spread for a bit longer than it should have. I’ll be honest, I let myself relax this summer, and despite redeveloping my focus on the physical aspects of my life (working out, playing sports, being social), I rarely exercised my brain. When I got to Rice, I knew it was time to focus, so I tried my best to focus. However, I noticed that I was, despite my best efforts, not at optimal performance. There is a baseline of things I do to maintain my mental and physical health, so I have not deteriorated; however, I also have become complacent and unable to continue to progress in life. This, however, is not a fundamental aspect of who I am, but merely a fogged state of focus that can be overcome. Despite my standing by and enjoying my time away from grinding, it is time to refocus on what is important.

I can start by changing not my mindset, but my actions. At the end of the day, the best way to get out of a rut is to force yourself out. So what is the best way to do this? Starting small. I started refocusing on my hard class (calc) by studying for the midterm for at least 45 minutes each day. On top of this, I have found a way to enjoy physical activity again, as opposed to just going through the motions. This way is through basketball. Hooping with friends from Wiess and even random people at the rec has revitalized my love for physical activity, and it has begun to correlate to my lifts as well as studying. It’s almost like a chain reaction in your brain. If you start focusing on changing one thing that forces you to be more productive, all of a sudden it doesn’t feel so foreign to be focused across all aspects of life.

This feeling is one that is not foreign to me. I have not always been the way I am now in terms of productivity. In fact, I used to be the most lazy person I know. However, at a certain point in high school, I realized that an individual has the potential to change their whole life if they really want it enough. This realization is one that not everyone has as easily as me. In fact, my brother always tells me how fortunate I was to have caught myself early on. This ability to focus and change your life is derived from one thing: action. I am a firm believer that your mind, at least 50% of the time, is not your friend. I constantly feel demotivated, and then when I do feel motivated, and it feels like I have the potential to change my whole life trajectory, it just doesn’t last. What really matters are the actions that one forces themselves to take. In sophomore year, when I decided to change my life, I was so determined that despite all the times when it would have been so easy to give up, I kept my head forward and thought about the possibility lying on the other side of the journey. Doing great things in life really does come down to if someone is willing to push through the difficult things. It is always easy to start a diet on January first, and it is never easy to pass up cake on a relative’s birthday. Sacrifices and discipline are how I have made the changes I have in my life, and now is no different. If I want to return to my most optimal performance, some sacrifices will have to be made. So that is what I will do. It is a new experience being a freshman in college, so of course it’s normal for a routine to be thrown out of whack. It is, however, not about how change affects you, but how you adapt to that change and continue moving forward.