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Nieszczur: Change your outlook on the day

Alexis Nieszczur, IC Columnist

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It’s all too easy to get caught up in the winter blues. If you’re like me, winter is the season where my motivation gets as low as the temperatures: I want nothing more than to lay in bed all day and put off my obligations a little bit longer. It’s hard to push yourself to do something when the outside world is dreary, gray and cold.

I often hear students say Toledo is such a depressing city and college life here is dull. With Toledo being a prevalent commuter campus, there is often a less than ideal number of students on campus. Also, unlike other campuses, the mall and other fun activities are located quite a distance from campus. In the fog of winter depression, it can be easy to agree. However, I have found many reasons to believe otherwise.

Taking advantage of a rare, 60-degree spring day, I dusted off my flip-flops and capris and took a walk around campus with a friend from my hometown. Describing all of the buildings and locations on campus to her gave me a tickled feeling in my stomach. It seemed like, for the first time, I was really soaking in the beauty of campus. I was excited to show off the Alumni Pavilion, the Spirit Rock and the greenery outside of the Student Union. I felt rejuvenated and experienced a youthful giddiness as we took our walk.

I thought of the often too-negative reputation the university receives about campus aesthetics and student life, and I find it truly unfair. Campus has real beauty to show, but only if one is willing to seek it out. Those who say ‘there is nothing to do’ obviously don’t step out of their dorm to experience the beauty of nature. Winter makes it easy to stay boxed up inside of a small dorm room and feel lonely and inactive, but this perspective can easily change with a simple change of scenery. Emerging from my dorm room for my short walk made me feel recharged and ready to take on the rest of the semester.

So maybe another 60-something-degree day won’t be around again for awhile, but that doesn’t mean you have to stay cooped up with a case of the winter blues. Here are a few of my suggestions to brighten up a gray day:

1) If there is more snow (let’s hope not), get a group of friends together and go sledding down any one of campus’s hills. The hill outside of Parks Tower is a popular spot.

2) Plan a movie night with friends or your residence hall. Dr. Armstrong and the Honors College often have weekly movie nights.

3) Check out the Rec Center for an individual workout or attend a group class. Yoga, Zumba or cycling can be great stress-relievers.

4) Change up your studying scenery by heading over to the Carlson Library. There are many public and private study rooms and tables available.

5) Find a spot in the Student Union to sit and relax as you watch the hustle of students go by. There is certainly a bustle to see at lunch hour.

6) Explore a different building on campus. It’s easy to get lost in UHall; you might end up in a favorite spot of mine, the enclosed garden area between UHall’s two towers.

7) Leave your door open and make yourself inviting to others in your residence hall. This is an easy way to make new friends!

8) Do your favorite activity, eat your favorite food or do something that makes you happy. Sometimes we all need an hour to catch up on a favorite TV show, nap, leisure-read a book or call an old friend.

As the semester rounds out, make a promise to yourself to not get caught up in the monotony and the mundane. Change it up, take it in and give these last few weeks all that you’ve got.

Alexis Nieszczur is a first-year majoring in pharmacy.

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