Man I Love College

During Week 8 we discussed internalized norms. Rules/values that you set and enforce on yourself. For example, Ted's daughter did not eat her cookie because she did not finish her lunch. I was trying to think of an example from my own life of an internalized norm I have for myself. I can only think of the opposite, I don't enforce rules on myself as much as when I am around someone who enforces them, like my parents. 

College is a big temptation on internalized norms. It's your first time living on your own, you don't have a Mom or Dad around telling you to eat your vegetables or take out the trash. Living in a dorm room is like the step between living at home with your parents and living completely on your own. In a dorm room you still have someone cleaning your bathrooms and you have a meal plan so you don't have to worry about making meals. There is still a large amount of responsibility though. I don't have my mom here to yell at me when all my clothes are on the floor and you can't even see the carpet. I don't have my dad to yell at me to turn off the TV until my homework is finished. You definitely have to set some rules for yourself in order to succeed at college. I force myself to eat the fresh fruit over cookies. I get my homework done before I hang out with my friends. If I have a lot of studying to do or homework to complete I won't go out until I am finished. I fail at making my bed every day and remembering to take my Vitamins. I always had my dad to remind me to take my vitamins!

Internalized norms are important for all aspects of life. I think it's important for everyone to have their own personal set of values and rules. Self discipline is always a good thing in order to succeed. It's definitely a hard adjustment when you first get to college. I learned the hard way, I didn't impose any internalized norms on myself when I first moved in. Within a week of hanging out with my friends and ignoring my school work, I was so far behind. I've definitely learned that college is constant work and you have to do daily work to stay on top of things. Partying is fun, but save it for the weekends. My dad constantly tells me "Work hard now, play hard later"