5 Short Reflections from a Grad
Hi everyone! My name’s Braden, and I recently graduated from the University of Waterloo around a month ago. I was kindly asked to provide a reflection of my past 5 years of undergrad experience, and to impart any wisdom I might have to other students reading this. Although I don’t consider myself an extremely wise person, I hope some of you will be able to get some advice out of this admittedly short blog post! Ok, here goes nothing…
Reflection #1: Love one Another
I feel like this is really important. I remember feeling pretty anxious and stressed in the first 2 years of school because of the academic demands. During this tumultuous period, one of my close Christian friends would consistently reach out and check up on me, which would honestly make my day a lot better. I found his kindness and genuine care for others very inspiring, and a good reflection of Christ’s love for us.
So my first piece of advice is to try your best to genuinely love others as Christ loved us. University is a tough time for a lot of people, and I think that even small acts of kindness can brighten people’s days far more than you may think! Whether it’s reaching out to your friend, asking how someone’s day has been, praying for or even holding the door open for someone, caring for others is our calling as Christians!
“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” — 1 John 4:11
Reflection #2: Plan Well
This one is more of a practical tip, and for those of you that know me, you might know I’m not the greatest planner. With that in mind, I did find that once I started planning out my schoolwork (with varying degrees of success) I was a lot less stressed. I think a big challenge during undergrad is finding a way to effectively manage all of your work and other commitments. Planning ahead was the best way for me to do this, and I found that effective planning helped relieve a lot of stress, and gave me more time to do other things, whether that’s getting involved in CCF, hanging out with friends, or intramurals!
Reflection #3: Get Involved!
I think that getting involved and helping out in CCF/church/the community is really rewarding! Although it can be a lot of extra work, I’ve personally found that God helped me grow a lot in my walk with Him through the ministries I had the opportunity to serve in. With that in mind, it’s also important to avoid overcommitting. For example, I don’t think I could’ve served effectively in my first year of school, because I was already drowning in work. However, if you think you might have enough time and energy, I’d highly recommend getting involved and actively serving! It’s a great way to pour into others and make new friends while growing in your personal walk with God.
Reflection #4: Stay Rooted in God’s Word
Do devotionals and pray! This is something I always feel I could be doing better in, but it’s important to continually meditate on the Word of God so that you can continue to grow in Christ-likeness.
Reflection #5: Take Care of Yourself
Mental health is important, so make sure you’re setting aside time to do things that you enjoy! With that in mind, if you ever feel like you’re in a bad spot mentally, reach out and talk to someone who you can trust and confide in. Also, try not to compare yourself to others. Sometimes it can be easy to look around you and be envious of other people’s spiritual maturity, co-op jobs, academic abilities, etc. Remember that everyone’s running their own race, and that life isn’t a competition.
Finally, if you’re in computer engineering…remember to shower!
OK that’s it! Thanks for giving this a read, and I hope you got something out of it :)
