Hugs

Dear FutureMe, You should have been in college for three months or so by now. This is to remind you to loosen up. Live wild. Go for the gold. If you're stressed or depressed or upset, journal. It's cathartic. Or see a counselor at school. You're paying for it, use it!! If you're indecisive about your degree (still), practice more. Go pick up some random piece, and play around. Don't kill yourself over the music. Pick a day to just have fun and remember. Take out your violin and play every etude in the Mazas book. Sing through all the region music. Sightread some Irish airs or improvise on a fiddle tune on viola. See if you can recapture the joy of playing. If you're lonely, call up Peter or Turner or Jackie. Have a viola party. Invite your dormmate to a movie. Go ice-skating or bowling or window-shopping- go to a park. At lunch, sit with someone new. Try to make friends now, while everyone is new. If you're homesick, pull out that photo album you better have packed. Flip through the memory book I'm sure you finished for Jackie. Call home, ask about everyone in SA. Read old livejournal entires- and new ones. If you're freaking out about school, take a deep breath. Breathe slowly. Write out a list of what you have to do. Break it down into small parts and set up a schedule. If you're struggling with a subject, find a tutor, an online help page, or an "insert subject here" for Dummies book. Go to your professor's office hours with a list of questions and lots of paper. If you're happy, I congratulate you. Try new things. Do you still dance? Did you ever try crew or fencing or rock-climbing? Do you draw or paint? Ever collage anymore? Read about new things every month? Get a job, make plans to be an undergraduate grader, read up on research projects you might want to work on. Find out about study abroad, work on your Italian. Be vibrant, be emotional, be alive. Never lose sight of who you are: You are strong, you are talented, you are compassionate, you are BRAVE and in love with life. Go get 'em!! Love, You