<p>So I passed through freshman year okay and I’m a sophomore now, getting along through my classes. Turns out my workload hasn’t been nearly as hard as I expected it would be, so now I’m relatively relaxed (or at least I can manage my time better now).</p>
<p>Here’s the problem: I’m about to drop all of my extracurriculars because I don’t find any of them fulfilling anymore. Not only that, but I don’t want to join any new ones either, because none of them seem like they will be fulfilling. And with my relaxed courseload, I’m feeling more useless than ever.</p>
<p>I feel like I’ve lost all my ambition all of a sudden. I hate the thought of not doing anything besides homework, but I also hate the thought of staying in student groups I’m not dedicated to-- and, considering that I’m not premed, I’ve been told again and again that it doesn’t really matter whether I even do any extracurriculars, since jobs/grad schools won’t care about them. Jobs, they say, care about industry experience and GPA; grad schools care about research and GPA.</p>
<p>I want to be able to look back at my years here and know that I took advantage of them and did really interesting things. I love my classes. I love my UROP. I used to love my extracurriculars too. But it’s not high school anymore, and there’s no longer a clear-cut reason to be participating in outside activities, so as soon as they stop being fulfilling, I start thinking about dropping them. I hate being relaxed, because to me that ends up equating to being bored-- and inferior. But what can I do to help myself and find things that are worth doing?</p>
<p>(Or maybe a more straightforward, though perhaps more obnoxious, question: what am I “supposed” to be doing?)</p>
<p>A suggestion is to look outside the 'Tute and see what Boston and Cambridge have to offer. They are the ultimate source of extracurricular activities. But before you drop everything, go the the coffee shop, get a bagel and a schmeeer and a hot cup of joe, and go sit on a bench overlooking the Charles with your best friend or roommate. Talk about what you’re passionate about - be honest. That’s what you should be doing either in class or as an extracurricular. If it can be both, then that’s great. You can do it! Hang in there!</p>
<p>(1) Dropping all your activities sounds like the standard thing to do when depressed. Either way, you might want to drop by Medical and talk to someone.</p>
<p>(2) If your main motivator to do activities in high school was to impress colleges (and now you’re similarly just thinking of activities as a way to go to the next step), then it sounds like you need to figure out what you actually like doing. This may be difficult if you’ve never completely lived in the present before, but it’s certainly possible. Go look at the ASA website for a list of activities on campus. Try things that even have <em>spark</em> of, “Oh, that might be interesting.” Scuba, archery, equestrian team, Go club, literature club – just try things out, see if one sticks to you as something interesting to do in itself.</p>
<p>It’s a paradigm shift, learning to do things because you enjoy them instead of being motivated by impressing someone. But it’s an important one to make.</p>
<p>@Piper I’m relatively sure I’m not depressed-- if I was ever depressed it was in high school; I’m happier than ever at MIT. Thanks for your concern, though. :)</p>
<p>It’s more like this: I tried not to do things <em>just</em> to impress colleges in high school, but I guess that crept into my activities as competition increased. But that meant I never really had a chance to figure out what I really love to do. And I think my main issue is that I don’t really know what the point is of getting involved in student groups anymore: a lot of my hobbies are relatively solitary, like artwork and writing. But in high school I was constantly busy, and I loved that too-- I really hate having empty time and I would much rather spend that time feeling like I’m doing something constructive. </p>
<p>One of the things I liked most in high school was research, and I’m doing UROP and it’s great, but I always feel like I want to-- or should-- be involved in something non-academic. It’s almost halfway through sophomore year. I came in hoping that I’d find an extracurricular (or two or three) that I could keep with me all four years, that would make me happy and keep me occupied and allow me to push myself outside of academics. So far, though, there’s only one activity I’ve stayed in for longer than a semester, either because I join and then realize it’s not all I thought it was (or not all it was made out to be), or I realize it’s not what I really want to do. I hate jumping around like this, but I can’t figure out how to find something that “sticks.”</p>
<p>^ Right, I’m not trying to imply that you only did things for colleges ever. It just seems your motivation is almost entirely tied up in how an activity will effect your future, rather than how much you enjoy it. It sounds like now’s the time to branch out and try some new things, and let fun take over your motivation for activities instead of ambition </p>
<p>That said, writing and art both seem like constructive uses of your time, albeit less social. Are you looking for a strictly social activity?</p>
<p>Don’t worry about sticking to a club all four years - find something you like, stick with it after you reach that point. Seriously, been there done that ;)</p>
<p>No, you’re right-- it feels unnatural to do things that may never serve any greater purpose in my life or seem impressive to people. It’s hard to get past that.</p>
<p>I’m not looking for a strictly social activity, but something that was important to me before was being in groups where I could have a significant amount of leadership. There’s clearly plenty of opportunity for that here, but my sticking point is that I haven’t yet found a group that I identify with enough that I want to put that much more effort and dedication into it. That might seem arrogant considering how many clubs and groups there are here, but what I find is that when I join clubs I’m interested in, I meet too many people who haven’t gotten over the “high school overachiever” mentality of doing a million things but never really committing to one. (Or, I end up finding awesome groups-- consisting entirely of grad students, haha.)</p>
<p>Haha no-- grad students are awesome! I aspire to be one someday But these groups seem to get really serious and impersonal, probably because they’re doing really serious work, haha.</p>
<p>Sophmore year is hard because you are too far from the end to feel like you are doing anything. I would not do anymore activities you don’t like. Take a break and reevaluate what you want. Sometimes you need to retract to get back on track. Try not to chill for too long because then you just get yourself in trouble.</p>
<p>Forgot to note - I actually went through a similar thing at the end of last term, where I suddenly realized I didn’t know why I was doing the activities I was doing. Focusing my life between school, work, and fun has changed a lot of that. It’s weird to get used to, but it does happen :P</p>
<p>Frankly, re: people still in high school mentality, the best thing to do is ignore them. Certain people being dumb shouldn’t keep you from having fun. Let them play their superiority games - you do what you find fulfilling, and leave it at that
Batllo and momof3greatgirls bring up good points - taking a break from groups completely to just sort of get your head together is a great thing, as is exploring other things around Boston. Start a jogging routine along the river! Start volunteering with something fun like Bikes Not Bombs or the Charles River Conservancy (my idea of fun, YMMV)!</p>
</p>
But these groups seem to get really serious and impersonal, probably because they’re doing really serious work, haha.</p>