Let’s face it, Hilary Term at Oxford isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. In fact, for the last two years I’ve been at university, almost everyone I’ve spoken to has had something bad to say about it.
The narrative about Hilary Term goes something a little like this: ‘Hilary is the coldest term, the weather is miserable and the days are short and dark. The post-Christmas blues are in full-force and you will probably feel really stressed about your workload.’
The only positive thing people ever really have to say in anticipation of the second term is that, ‘it might snow.’
I’d like, if you’ll let me, to try to change your view about Hilary Term at Oxford…
This time last year I decided to make a change to the way I lived at uni. I recognised the fact that I had spent much of my first year and a half at Oxford locked away in my room, spending hours looking at my computer and, in my free time, scrolling endlessly on Tiktok and Instagram. I missed home dreadfully and I was incredibly anxious about the freedoms that university life had thrust upon me. The idea of Hilary Term in 2024 playing out as I had been told (by almost everyone) was terrifying. I wasn’t going to let it happen.
Hilary Term, I think, has inherent potential to begin well. Its start date often comes at that point in January when we have all fallen off the wagon for our new year’s resolutions and so it provides a second opportunity to begin again. This is exactly what I did.
I started by creating a morning routine. It sounds like an obvious first step, but one that easily gets neglected in the stress and chaos of uni life. Waking up to that first alarm at 6am was dreadful. It was difficult to keep my eyes open to read ten pages of my book next to an open window (in the middle of winter…that’s dedication!). And going on a morning walk with 400 layers on to see the sunrise wasn’t always easy. But, boy, I haven’t looked back since.
I discovered my passion for nature and wildlife last Hilary Term. Watching the red kites soar through the pink and orange skies first thing in the morning; saying good morning to the little blackbirds and blue-tits; feeling the frost crunch under my feet: they’re all things that made my day wonderful before it had properly begun.
There’s been a recent trend where people are encouraged to create something called ‘the dopamine menu’. This is, in short, a personal list of activities which you know will make you feel better. As Hilary Term 2024 continued, I kept adding to my dopamine menu. For the first time since I completed my A-level art coursework, I started to make art again. Each week, I would illustrate an envelope and send my parents a letter, giving them an update about the positive things I’d experienced that week. By doing this, I was also holding myself accountable, and technically getting my parents to hold me accountable, to look for the positive in each day.
Day by day, Hilary was becoming a term full of joy rather than one full of misery.
The final step I took towards making my university life more fulfilling was to take up running. Until this point, I had always shied away from fitness. Not necessarily out of laziness…although I do admit I never used to find the idea of increasing my heart rate instead of watching TV very appealing. I was more concerned with how others viewed me – the gym has always seemed an unwelcoming, judgemental space to me and running seemed like a way to invite criticism and ridicule from onlookers in passing vehicles. Nonetheless, my sister had just completed ‘Couch to 5k’ and, as with most things she achieves, I was jealous. I think anyone who has a sister will understand the feeling. I therefore swiftly got over myself and my self-consciousness and did my first run. I ran for a grand total of 30 seconds before I was clutching my side with a stitch and panting horrifically. I kept going though, and by April I had run my first ever 10k, and by September my first ever half marathon.
I have last Hilary Term to thank for a wealth of hobbies and habits and, ultimately, happiness. I still feel homesick at university and there will undoubtedly be days this coming term where I feel down. But I know that I will be able to choose to have a term that isn’t miserable like people say it will be. I hope you will too!