At the start of my second year, I became aware of a new college anxiety. Let’s call it the “Help! I’m not involved enough!” guilt. As the phrase “Wow, you’re so involved!” was thrown around when friends headed to committee meetings and class rep training, it began to seem not so much a positive comment as a dirty phrase, uttered in an implicitly competitive and borderline manic way.
Second year is a strange limbo year. Gone are the check-ins and questions of how College is going, because it’s assumed that with a year under your belt, you’re already settled. But feeling settled is relative and different for everyone. It’s presumptuous to assume that after completing a year in college you’re fully comfortable. The Freshers’ Week fair in second year no longer feels like an oasis of opportunity, but a collection of stalls that you have either already explored, don’t know how to navigate, or – worse – learned to avoid. Last year I signed up for rowing because why the hell not? I have since come up with a myriad of reasons as to why the hell not, not least because I have no interest in rowing. But in some ways we could all use a bit more of this mentality in terms of getting involved, because college is the time to try things, right?
The kind of manic, CV-driven push to join many societies can be a little overwhelming and is contradictory to the purpose of them – exploring or furthering what interests you.
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Well, yes, right. But “getting involved” is often too heavily emphasised. The kind of manic, CV-driven push to join many societies can be a little overwhelming and is contradictory to the purpose of them – exploring or furthering what interests you. Having to answer the question “What societies are you involved with?” or the dreaded “What committees are you on?” can often be met with a guilty and vague response and a feeling like you are missing something. But it shouldn’t be this way. This concept of CV-building in college is silly, because student titles and positions are not the foundation of your actual college experience. Downing a pint in 10 seconds or writing a 4000-word essay in an evening can be just as impressive, applicable to the real world, and emblematic of college life as sitting on the committee of a society, but they cannot be put on a CV. Not to mention simply enjoying your course, which is worth celebrating too. Your college experience is exactly what you want it to be, and this anxiety about not being involved enough should be squelched.
There are so many different things to try and do in college that it can be difficult to get involved, often just due to that overwhelming fact. What’s more, anxieties about meeting new people and entering an environment where there are already established friendships can make a tough situation even tougher. If you are in the mood to dip your toe in the water, I recommend checking out some of the smaller societies as well as the big ones. They can be very lovely, and often very appreciative of fresh faces. Head to one event, even bring a friend if it makes you more comfortable, and see what happens. Overcoming the initial barrier of involvement is hardest, especially after your first year.
But I’d warn against the blatant boycotting of the whole involvement thing.
However, this isn’t a call to action for people to pick up and do things – far from it. It’s more an acknowledgement that sometimes starting new things can be tough, and if it is unappealing then remember that it is totally optional. But I’d warn against the blatant boycotting of the whole involvement thing. Writing off society committees as composed of useless politics, power grabs and arbitrary positions of authority only makes you seem bitter, and it’s not accurate. While there has been very silly drama within the confines of society committees, some kind of authority is necessary for the functioning of a society, and the cries of the liberal arts block anarchist are perhaps somewhat lost here.
A wave of “Help! I’m not involved enough” panic sparked the writing of this article. While I am aware that this makes me a massive hypocrite, I also think it’s OK, because it’s an involvement I am enjoying: I thought of something that I really wanted to write and here I am. Maybe here is where I enter into the sphere of college life that is extra-curricular involvement, or maybe it’s not. Either way, I think I’m OK with it. Because I’m enjoying college just enough, “involved” or not.
