Since starting my “second tour” at UWF in Fall 2024, I have made lists for myself of the gains that I have made and lessons that I learned that significantly impacted me for this season and semester. This semester, I am choosing to share with you my “spring 2026 lessons learned list.”
Heal Out Loud
Spring 2026 will be remembered as one of my most difficult semesters thus far. Managing a course load of five classes, juggling jobs, helping run a household, and tending to children became difficult as I walked through the heavy and hard that life was throwing my way. I choose to heal out loud. Healing out loud is a practice of openly sharing your journey of recovery, trauma, or personal growth. I believe in this concept, because in healing out loud, discussing the taboo subjects, we break the stigma, and help others heal along the way. It shifts the internal narrative from shame to virtue. I was reminded by a communication senior transfer student from Auburn, Alabama, that I told them about healing out loud when we both met at UWF in fall 2024.
Congratulations to that girl, and all the graduates of Argo Nation! Enjoy your walk across the stage this Saturday! You earned it and worked hard to get to this point!
Ask for Help
I was overly ambitious this semester in taking five classes. As I was struggling, I reached out for help. I asked one of my classmates to tutor me with one of the classes I was struggling with. At its core, asking for help makes us vulnerable. For me, I learned that asking for help is not a weakness, but instead a functional skill as faster problem solving occurs. In the end, I made a new friend and we have had the best times hanging out in the library together.
Fail Forward
Fail Forward is a concept I first learned in Professor Parent’s class fall 2024. In wrapping my mind around this concept, I have learned that in failing forward, I take responsibility for my actions, learn from the experience, and try again with new information. In attempting to be cognizant of this in my life, I am trying to tell myself that no human can be 100%, 100% of the time and that failures are inevitable. Just do better and be better than you were the day before. Arete.
Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself
In the college arena, there is a plethora of us Type A, overachieving brilliant humans. Obviously, or else we wouldn’t be in college. With over achieving comes self imposed perfectionism standards. At least for me. Daily I am trying to extend to myself love, grace, and forgiveness. One of my besties tells me to talk to myself the way I talk to others when encouraging them. In my goings and comings this semester, I have said this to several of my classmates, as I am really saying it to myself. But when saying it to a classmate, I have literally seen the metaphorical weight fall off of them. Seeing this before me has been the catalyst and encouragement to work on my self love and self perception continuously.
Carpe Diem! Seize the Day!
Life is short. Life is fast. In a day of constant communication and dings across platforms and apps, where everything and everyone around you is vying for your attention, I slow down in order to slow down my brain and my emotions. Seizing the day lets me lay to rest the regrets of yesterday and the anxieties of tomorrow. Daily I do this by connecting with others, being creative, spending time in nature, and having a heart of gratitude. Use the good dishes, wear the fancy outfit, eat the special meal, and be present with the 24 hours in front of you.
Happy Summer 2026 Argo Nation!
