15 Ways to Improve Your Semester

by Brae Howard

1. The bare essentials for human life–eating, sleeping, and sex–are some of the most enjoyable things too. Give yourself the first two since you can. Eat slowly. Sleep adequately. Enjoy both. They are some of my favorite pastimes.
2. Wake up an hour before class. Two hours is better. Prepare yourself for the day in the word and in prayer. Get oxygen. Concentrate on breathing for 5 minutes. Eat breakfast with a bit of protein to get your metabolism started.
3. Write letters on Sundays. Stay close to people in spite of geographical distance. And keep the art of letter writing alive. Receiving real paper mail is so encouraging. Encourage people.
4. Feel good in your clothes. Tight jeans are uncomfortable. Corduroys aren’t.
5. Wear shoes that support your feet. Own 3 or 5 pairs of good shoes, not 50 pairs of bad ones. Walking will become enjoyable again. You might even start walking up the stairs.
6. Commit yourself to a small group or some sort of personal fellowship at your church. I don’t have time to go to one this semester, what with my SIP and other senior responsibilities, but I go anyway. Getting connected with adults is enriching when you’re a college student living in the land of twenty year olds. Connection with the church is also nourishing and practical. It’s a family away from your family.
7. Lay down in a hot bath once a week. If you don’t live in Carter, make a Carter friend and take advantage of the friendship. The hot water will clean out your pores and laying there will help you learn to rest while you’re awake.
8. Get massaged. Massage your roommate one night and get him or her to massage you the next.
9. Hug your friends. It helps with sexual repression. People need human touch. If you deprive yourself of it something horrible or at least unpleasant will probably happen.
10. Pray 5 times a day. Pretend you’re Islamic for a while and feel the nourishment of forced spiritual devotion.
11. Listen to Sufjan Stevens or Joni Mitchell. Joni Mitchell’s album Dreamland has a beautiful, wintry song that will make you warm. It’s called “Come in from the Cold.” Her rendition of “Unchained Melody” on her Hits album is also a song worth knowing. Sufjan Steven’s Christian faith expressed in his simple but rich folkish music might bring you closer to God.
12. Explore the woods. They’re right behind Covenant. Sometimes we forget about them. But we shouldn’t.
13. Eat at least one home-cooked meal a week. Invite yourself over to a family’s home from your church. They don’t mean to be inhospitable and they welcome me when I ask. Or buy simple groceries and cook with friends in a commons area or at a friend’s apartment. Be a family.
14. Wear mismatched socks. It will help you feel free and spontaneous. Mismatched patterns are best.
15. Allow yourself at least 25 minutes to unwind before you go to sleep. Make a mug of sleepytime or chamomile tea. Wash your feet. Do stretches. Breathe deeply. Calm yourself and prepare to enjoy the night.