Prioritize energizing environments

After freshman year of university, I changed programs. I enrolled in summer school to make up for some first year credits, so I could start second year on time. It was the worst summer of my life. Most of my university and high school friends had summer jobs waiting for them in Toronto. My family was back there too. I felt very lonely, which made me feel drained. Plus, I felt like I’d given whatever I had left to the spring final exams, which I did well on. I felt like I had nothing left, and summer school happened at an intense pace. Looking back, I finally realized what a more suitable path would have looked like if I wanted to do summer school: stay in Toronto, where I could be around my friends and family, and study remotely by making my own practice exams. Commute to my little university town only for exams—once a month—and skip the regular lectures, where I wasn’t really paying attention anyway. It’s likely that I would have enjoyed my summer a lot more and probably ended up…