Nervous. Weird. Awkward. Whyyyyy? First days of anything are usually associated with feelings of ‘can-I-go-back-to-my-comfort-zone-yet?’ and sneaky sad face texts to your besties. And although we totally agree that new starts are scary as hell (believe it or not, those same butterflies have happened to friends-of-friends of yours AKA us), they don’t have to be as traumatic as advertised. Here’s how to nix the nerves (with a little help from those same friends-of-friends).
You’ve moved house!
You’re the new kid on the block (literally). Maybe you’ve moved down the road, a suburb away or – scariest of all – a new city (whaaaat?). Oh, and you’re freaking out. Firstly, congrats! You now have a new area to explore – diff local coffee place, new mall to hit up and route to stroll erryday. Which is exciting, right? But also sad face. Chances are you’ve probs left a lot of awesome behind – room/friends/school – and are feeling a little out of sorts.
Own it: Focus on the fun bits! Decking out your new room for instance, is exciting. So is inviting an old friend over to check it out for the first time (even if it’s in a few weeks). Oh, think of your Snapchat stories – sah much NEW!
But also: take a moment to feel sad. Take heaps of pics and share memories together with your fam. Living there was an important part of your life, and no matter how far you’ve moved, it had to of sucked saying goodbye *hugs*.
You’ve changed schools!
New place. New people. New uniform. New lunchtime hang. The only familiar thing is the sound of your racing heartbeat (you totally had this on your first day of kindy). Starting a new school is scary-as, but could be the start of a new social/study/errythang chapter even BETTER than the one before (yep, it’s poss).
Own it: expect to feel a little on the outer on your first day. Coz you’re not super-comfy with the place (yet), stuff might feel awks. Hopefully you’ll get introduced to an awesome group of new peeps, and although you might not be as tight as your old squad straight away, bonds will grow (along with your group chat threads).
But also: keep in touch with your old school pals (literally)! Just coz you moved doesn’t mean you can’t text/face time/hang on the weekends. Just make sure you don’t compare your friendships. Closeness – along with epic PLL marathons – will come.
You scored a new job!
First day a new gig is hard. There’s so much info to soak up (er, how do I take someone’s order again?), which can often equal clumsy, new girl learning-the-ropes feels. Warning: you’ll probably make a million mistakes (oh you, wanted a smoothie WITHOUT banana?), but it’s all part of the awks first day process.
Own it: Act confident (even if you don’t feel it), be polite and put in 100 per cent effort. If you’re super interested, it will show and no-one expects anything more than enthusiasm and willingness to learn on day one.
But also: Stuff-ups will happen, and you’ll probs – and should – ask a bunch of seemingly stupid (but so NOT) questions. Keep in mind that everyone was new once, and being awesome at your job is something that happens with experience.