One of the biggest “rights of passage” while attending college is moving into a dorm. While not everyone does it, it can be a fun and exciting way to immerse yourself in the college experience.
However, for many college students, moving into a dorm is also the first time you’re moving away from home. Navigating a new place, meeting new friends and roommates, and trying to balance your mental health and class load all at once can be overwhelming.
Thankfully, there are things you can do to prepare for dorm life and make the entire experience easier on yourself. With a little planning and preparation now, you can thrive in a dorm environment and quickly learn to love your new life of independence. Let’s take a look at some tips that will help you out right away.
Pack the Essentials
Getting ready to leave home and head to a dorm can be one of the most stressful parts of the whole moving experience. It’s essential to make sure you have everything you need to feel comfortable in your new living space. The last thing you want is to get there and realize you forgot to pack something important. Some of the basic dorm essentials you should make sure you’re bringing along include:
- Comfortable bedding (including your own sheets and a comforter);
- An alarm clock;
- A shower caddy;
- Shower flip-flops;
- Storage bins/bags;
- A laundry basket;
- A desk fan;
- At least one trash can;
- A mini fridge;
- A hand-held vacuum.
The list goes on, of course. Think about everything you need to go about your daily routine at home. You might be taking things for granted in your parents’ house that you never realized before, and now you’ll need them for your own living space.
In addition to the essentials, pack a few things solely for comfort. That might include a stuffed animal or blanket from home, some of your favorite clothes, or a favorite book or two. Even if you don’t ever use/wear those things in your dorm, simply having them there can reduce your stress levels and help you feel a sense of calm when everything else feels unfamiliar.
Establish a Self-Care Routine
There are plenty of stereotypes surrounding college students and how they take care of themselves — or, rather, how they don’t.
You don’t have to fall into those tropes of surviving on Ramen noodles and pizza and staying up all night multiple times a week. Instead, you can boost your mental and physical well-being while living in a dorm by creating a routine that focuses on self-care.
A healthy routine looks different for everyone, so try different things to determine what works for you. It might include waking up at the same time each morning and going to bed at the same time each night, focusing on healthy meals, getting plenty of physical activity, and taking time to care for your mental health. Practicing things like mindfulness and meditation daily can reduce the stress often caused by collegiate chaos.
Speaking of your mental health, however, remember that self-care can sometimes go too far. While it’s essential to integrate it into your life as much as possible, self-care practices should never take the place of genuine mental health services when they’re necessary. If you’re struggling with stress, anxiety, or depression or you’re just not feeling like yourself, don’t assume that taking a hot bath or going for a run is going to magically make your problems go away. While they can help, they aren’t a substitute for more structured therapy.
Most college campuses across the country have mental health resources on campus. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you’re anxious or feeling down. Even if you’re not entirely sure how to describe your feelings, the counselors on campus can help. At the very least, they can give you some helpful resources and recommend local therapists or teletherapists that can help you work through the challenges you’re facing. Of course, you can integrate self-care into your therapy regimen. A combination of the two will likely get you to that sweet spot of success in your new dorm.
Foster Healthy Relationships
Some might argue that the hardest part of college is the class load. However, that can often feel like a walk in the park when you’re trying to connect with your roommates and make new friends.
The relationships you build in college can stay with you for a lifetime, but it’s not always easy to get started when you’re all in an unfamiliar location and situation.
Thankfully, there are things you can do to build healthy relationships from the start, whether you’re trying to get closer to your roommates, someone in your class, or people in your extracurricular groups. Keep these tips in mind to not only establish strong friendships but to cultivate healthy relationships that add value to your life:
- Ask genuine questions;
- Allow yourself to feel vulnerable;
- Encourage open communication;
- Set healthy boundaries;
- Make time for each other;
- Support each other’s endeavors.
Having strong friendships in college can reduce your stress, improve your self-esteem and confidence, and make it easier to get through difficult times when classes might seem overwhelming. One of the hardest things about moving away from home is leaving your support system behind. You don’t have to completely cut yourself off from the family and friends you grew up with. In fact, technology has made it easier than ever to stay in touch with people all over the world.
However, by building a new support system in college, you’ll surround yourself with people who have a unique perspective of what you’re going through because they’re in the thick of it with you. That’s why so many college friendships stand the test of time, no matter how far apart you might be from each other after graduation.
Moving Forward
Dorm life can be a lot of fun. You’ll get a taste of what it’s like to live on your own for the first time, tackle new responsibilities, and decide exactly how you want to live now and in the future. It offers a fantastic opportunity to feel more “at home” on your college campus, and you’ll never know if your next roommate might become a life-long best friend.
Keep these tips in mind to prepare yourself for dorm life before heading to school, and you’ll thrive while living on campus throughout your collegiate career.
