This blog was written by our Semester 2 intern, Pranay.
There was a point during my first semester at La Trobe when I genuinely didn’t know what I was doing not just in class but in general. I’d sit with my laptop open at the library, pretending to study while quietly freaking out inside. Everyone around me seemed to be sprinting ahead, like they knew exactly what they wanted from life. I was just trying to keep up. I questioned whether I was in the right course, whether I was wasting time, and most of all, whether I was the only one feeling this way. Spoiler: I wasn’t. But in that moment, I didn’t know that. I just felt… stuck.
One day after class, I took a slow walk past the lake just needing space to think and asked myself something simple: What if I didn’t need to figure everything out right now? That tiny shift in thinking changed a lot. I started exploring subjects that sounded interesting, even if they didn’t align perfectly with my ‘plan’. One elective I took purely out of curiosity actually ended up reshaping how I viewed my entire degree. I also began being more honest with friends. Instead of pretending I had everything under control, I admitted I was struggling and to my surprise, they said the same. That one honest conversation made me realise how many of us were quietly figuring things out behind the scenes.
From then on, I made space for small things that helped me reconnect with myself journaling, evening walks, even just sitting outside for ten minutes without looking at my phone. It didn’t fix everything overnight, but it gave me clarity and calm. I stopped chasing a perfect version of student life and started embracing the real one; messy, unpredictable and full of growth. I also started engaging more with campus life, attending events not because I had to but because I wanted to see what might happen.
Slowly, the university stopped feeling like a maze and started feeling like a place where I belonged. If you’re reading this and feeling lost too, I promise it doesn’t mean you’re failing. It just means you’re still finding your way. And trust me, that’s exactly where most of us are. You don’t need to have it all sorted just take one curious step at a time.
