Year in Review

Since coming to Ohio State, a lot of things have changed about my lifestyle. How I use my free time has changed the most. I try to use a majority of it for studying or school work but that still leaves me a fair amount of time. Being at such a large university, it was easy to find new ways to spend my time. Rock climbing, hammocking and playing music ended up filling up most of the extra time that I had. I really hope to be able to try even more hobbies next year. The way I ate food also changed a fair amount. It wasn’t until around the start of second semester where I was slightly more conscious of what I was eating. I did this not only to improve my health, but also to reduce my impact on the environment. All these choices have definitely made my life at Ohio State a bit easier and fun. Going forward into my sophomore year, I would like to change how I study and how much I study to improve my grades. I would also like to be more active in general. I’ve noticed that when I force myself to be involved or occupied, my day becomes more productive as a whole. I’m not quite sure what I will use to busy myself but I have been thinking about doing research or working more with music. The biggest motivating factor I have in making these changes are my grades and my health. When I am productive and generally active, I tend to feel better overall, emotionally and physically. I have tried to take in as much as I can from second years and other people around me in regards to the best way to navigate life in college. Most of my lifestyle the past year has been shaped by suggestions from other people. Getting started at OSU wasn’t too bad until classes started to pick up. Once school work got hard, managing myself and school at the same time became difficult. Hopefully as an ENR mentor, I will be able to help others in the same way that I have been helped. My Earth Action Plan directly impacted how I interacted with things around me. I learned several easy ways to reduce energy consumption and I was able to use these techniques in Morrill. A topic that came up very frequently in my readings was the huge variety in the environmental impact of different foods. Being a vegetarian, I don’t consume meat all together which is a start in reducing how much waste I generate, but I’ve started being more conscious of how I eat dairy and some vegetables. I hope that these choices not only reduce the amount of energy and resources being consumed by me, but also change how others perceive the impact of their choices. I will definitely by carrying on these new practices that I’ve picked up as I move forward. The changes I’ve made to my lifestyle are relatively small and very manageable. There’s almost no reason for me not to life a more environmentally conscious and focused life.