editor's note
Journalism was just something that my high school counselor placed me into because she thought it would be good for me. At first, it was just a class. Eventually, it started to define who I was. Despite the role it played in my life before coming to Berkeley, I dropped the activity when I got here because I didn’t plan to pursue it as a career. Although this plan still holds true, it was a mistake to not include it in my future because abandoning it also caused me to abandon a large part of myself. This prevented me from fully enjoying my freshman year of college.
This originally small decision came to play a large role in my experiences and actions at Berkeley. When I learned of my mistakes, I took action and made some changes to my life. Now, I’m here editing this newsmagazine.
The twist to this story is that upon graduation, I will likely drop journalism from my life once again. So why am I here, in hardboiled, spending so much of my time on something that is going to end? Well… I actually don’t know. I’ll just keep this piece of me alive for now and I’ll worry about the rest later. So right now, I look like a crazy junior trying to become some kind of a health professional who is wasting her time doing something random. Fine, I am crazy but hardboiled just makes me a little less crazy.
While I’m off spending time doing something purely for my own happiness and sanity, I am left with less time to dedicate to other things like studying, researching, shadowing, interning and participating in pre-health organizations – all of which would progressively strengthen my resume. Before you start calling the nut house, I ask you: despite how much these future-driven activities will help and how much they will pay off inthe end, are you spending time doing something solely for you? Is anything you’re doing purely as hobby rather than a job?
I’m not saying that I don’t enjoy researching, interning or being involved with a pre-health organization because I do love it. But I also like hardboiled and it has been the opportunity for me to get away from the biohazard reagents stored around the corner of my secluded lab bench in the dungeons of Hildebrand to work with a team of happy perky people (although, their enthusiasm gets kinda creepy at times). Sometime in the midst of this semester, I fell in love with hardboiled… and I want others to find their place too (wink wink hint hint nudge nudge).
So, you lab rats, you Matlab-aholics, you future doctors: are you still dancing that routine you used to dance, tuning that violin you used to play or perfecting that sport that used to make you sweat? If not, maybe you should re-consider it... or else you’ll go through this end-of-junior-year-depression thing everyone is going through because they realized that they’re not fully satisfied with their lives and it’s almost too late to fix it.
Sometime last year, my roommate told me that I appeared happier than the year before. Sometime this semester, my roommate told me that I’m more open-mined than the year before. I told her that I realized that college is more than just good grades, succeeding and getting our futures in order but it’s also an opportunity to find yourself. College is an once-in-a-lifetime experience so experience everything Berkeley has to offer… it’s only four years and though you’re “too busy” to be involved with these hobbies, these hobbies won’t be available to you once you’re gone.
Think about it. Do you really want to look back at college and envision a list of unfinished tasks or do you want to look back know you’ve left your mark?
Julie Tse, Layout Editor