Last month, I painstakingly packed up my bags and bid farewell to USC to move to the other side of the country. I traded in a relaxing summer back home with friends and family for a summer internship in Atlanta — where I knew no one, barring my two high school classmates who I hadn’t spoken to, well, since high school. Even before the internship, when I should have been excited about the hours I would spend widening my understanding of my chosen career path, I was more worried about what I would do in the leftover hours of the day.

Although a 9 to 5 job can be hectic, it also ensures that from 5 p.m. to 9 a.m., I have complete freedom to do as I wish. Unlike college — where classes, assignments, and club meetings are spread out throughout the day and take up a significant amount of time — I’m not used to having such a large amount of “me time.” 

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Normally, this would have been a great opportunity to spend quality time with my friends, but alas, my limited social circle in Atlanta posed a barrier. More than just a barrier, the lack of people to listen to me complain about how overpriced Starbucks is (I am single-handedly paying my local Starbucks’ rent) made me extremely uncomfortable. 

I am constantly surrounded by a flurry of people in college, and my best friends are just one dorm away. I have fallen into the worst trap imaginable — the habit of being surrounded by people. 

Even college classes and clubs emphasize collaboration and working with others. While I am constantly encouraged to spend time with others, no one taught me that spending time on my own, which I am learning, is an equally vital skill. I vaguely recall being content in my own company at some point in time, but tomorrow, if I were the last person alive on the planet, I would be more likely to die of boredom than starvation. 

For the last few weeks, I have been experimenting with different activities to keep myself occupied. The first few days were spent lazing around in front of my television. But once I was done binging the latest season of “Bridgerton,” I had this itch to get out of bed and be productive. I needed to do something, anything that made me feel like I wasn’t rotting away. Anticipating this time would come, I had prepared by enrolling in a summer class remotely and continuing to write for the Daily Trojan. (Yes, you reading this is helping maintain my sanity — thank you.)

While this keeps me busy, the point of summer is also to relax. With these tasks and my internship, the summer was just an extension of the spring semester. 

So, I decided to set fun mini tasks for myself that satisfied my inner workaholic, who constantly has to be productive, and my tired 19-year-old self, who just wants to unwind after a hectic college semester. I baked a cake Tuesday, spent the afternoon reading Wednesday and played the ukulele Thursday. I am still mustering up the willpower to set one of the tasks as going to the gym, but I am proud of myself for balancing work and play.

Through these activities, I am attempting to become more comfortable with being alone and rediscovering my passions. It isn’t easy, and I sometimes call my friends to tell them I miss them or am very close to hopping onto the next plane home; even the 21-hour journey isn’t a deterrent. Yet, I know that this is worth it. While spending an entire week on my own without any social outings used to be daunting, I can pass the time surprisingly quickly.

I still call my loved ones daily, so I am not disconnected from the rest of the world. But I do feel more connected to myself. Even though this designated “me time” was thrust upon me rather than chosen, I am grateful because it pushed me to become more comfortable with just myself. 

To prevent the fear of not being enough for myself from setting in again, I will make a conscious effort to carve out 30 minutes daily for myself, away from the rest of my friends. (I love my friends, and I promise it’s me, not them.) I’m just hoping this will help me understand what I truly care about and enjoy, outside the scope of other people.