A Conversation with Jocelyn
By Jocelyn Eckenrode
What are you most proud of in your life?
The thing that I am most proud of is being a successful college student. I am a first-generation college student and I worked extremely hard in high school to put myself in a position where I would be able to attend college. Neither my parents nor my older sister decided to attend college. Although my parents gave me an amazing childhood, I watched them struggle from paycheck to paycheck.
I knew that I not only wanted to have a better life for myself, but I also wanted to get to a point in my life where I will be able to financially care for my parents so they don’t have to struggle. Today, I have a 3.7 GPA and plan to graduate on time with a double major in Marketing and Management.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
One piece of advice I would give to my younger self is that nobody is judging you the way you judge yourself. In high school I struggled a lot with confidence and self-esteem. I was self-conscious about what I wore, what my body looked like, and saying the “right” things. I thought that people were judging me harshly and everything I did was being critiqued.
The day of my high school graduation, I had an epiphany. All the people who I worried about judging me were taking completely different life paths and I would most likely never see most of them ever again. I felt a weight lifted off my shoulders and regretful at the same time. I was relieved because I realized that nobody really cared about what I was wearing or what my body looked like or if what I said was weird, but I felt regret because I had been so hard on myself for so long for no good reason. So, I would tell my younger self, eat the cake, say what you want, and do not care what anyone thinks about it because they are probably too worried about themselves to even notice what you are doing.
What are you passionate about?
One thing that I am passionate about is baking and cooking. Growing up, I would watch my father make dinner. He never had a recipe or even a thought-out plan of what he wanted to make. We would go through the refrigerator and spice drawer, smelling each spice to find a combination that would make a great dish. As I get older, I continue this tradition and constantly create new dishes for my friends and family to try.
During quarantine due to COVID-19, I started baking for my dog. I would make dog treats and I even made her a two-tier dog cake for her third birthday. The cake was complete with beautiful rainbow icing made from mashed potatoes and food coloring. We had the neighborhood dogs come over and they all had cake together. It was so fun to make and it made me so happy to see all the dogs enjoying their slice.
What makes you feel confident?
Recently I started following a workout plan after not working out for over a year. I played volleyball year-round throughout high school and was used to exercising every day. After going to college, I struggled to keep up with my workouts due to my full course schedule and having a part time job. With the quarantine due to COVID-19, my anxiety became increasingly worse and I started looking for a solution. Since working out has benefits for both mental and physical health, I decided to get back to working out in hopes that it would help me feel better.
It has really made a difference. I had forgotten how amazing working out makes me feel - both physically and mentally. After two weeks, I feel stronger and healthier. I love the feeling after a workout when you give everything you have until the last minute (even though you thought you were going to die). I always feel so proud of myself when I make it through my workout. Although I am a long way from my goal, every day I feel stronger and more empowered.
