We were one-fourth of the year in, and your plans either went to shit or had been semi-successful so far. If you’re like me, you lost some steam. So I did what a sane person would do: I searched for motivational, aesthetically pleasing videos, hoping someone could give me the solutions to my problems.
I decided to go with Alexis Sparks’ “How I manifested my dream life, stopped being depressed, made real friends & the most money ever.” The first suggestion she has for living the life you want? “Script” out your goals.
“Scripting” is writing down what you desire your year to look like as if it already happened. It is more than writing down future events in the past tense—its main focus is to delve into how doing those things would make you feel. The purpose of writing these goals down is to excite you for what’s to come.
When I heard Sparks say this, I paused the video to think about what I even wanted out of this year. Taking into consideration that I’d be in college for 10 months out of the year, I thought about what I hoped my college experience would look like now and moving into junior year.
As a first-year, I envisioned myself on a high of independence. At college, I could have calm mornings, study, go to parties, attend on-campus activities, and join endless clubs to see what felt right for me. In my first weeks of college, I was a ball of energy ready to talk everyone’s ear off and jump at any academic or social opportunity. Especially given that I wasn’t from Massachusetts, everything from ambiance to food to culture was new. Even my classes like PULSE or Complex Problems seemed uniquely exciting. My first year I was always open to discovering new clubs, weirdly unique classes, hidden study spots, restaurants with good food, and—well, the possibilities were endless.
During my sophomore year, that fresh excitement had faded. The campus buildings, ambiance, and culture of BC aren’t new anymore—they are a constant. When I see new things to do on campus, I often think to myself I could miss this event, there will always be another. My spark for curiosity isn’t what it once was. My days are all still different, but they feel dull. I do what needs to be done during that day with regard to assignments, classes, and just enough socializing to get me through. Although hundreds of miles away from home, I found myself stuck in the same monotonous routine I had gotten so bored of back at home.
I became a little sad when I realized my dream “script” version of college was far from its reality.
As I began scripting, I thought about what the freshman version of me wanted to get out of college. I’d still like to learn how to play basketball and dance, attend more home games, use the Connors Family Learning Center to improve my writing skills, and attend more campus club events. This would allow me to separate my days rather than having them all blend into one ball.
We get lost in the sameness the longer we’re at BC. After a year, there’s a sense of comfort to the monotony, especially because sophomores are trying to find stability and consistency. It’s important, though, to not lose sight of the things that are exciting and adventurous.
Scripting—making goals and fulfilling them—is a positive way of breaking that sameness. If you have five or 10 minutes available, I suggest you try it out. What do you desire your year to look like? Do your desires match the life you’re living now?
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