During the weeks commencing 25th October and 1st November, I implemented my findings on how to remain positive in the face of problems and tried to shift my mentality from negative to positive in general. At these meetings one of my mentees came to me saying that they wanted to stop doing one of their three subjects they had chosen. This was after the deadline date of dropping/changing modules so when I first heard that she was hoping to stop doing one of her subjects I immediately worried because I knew this deadline had passed.
Instead of panicking and stressing out like I would have previously done, I took a moment to collect my thoughts and calmly tried to brainstorm a solution. I had been in a similar situation myself in my first year of university and I went to seek advice and I was told to give it another month. I told my mentee to attend the lectures and seminars and put 100% effort in to the subject over the next month and see if that made any difference. A lot of the time we restrict ourselves from enjoying things due to having a negative mindset. This mentee was very successful in their A-level in this subject and really enjoyed it usually so I knew that she would not want to give up so easily. Despite me trying my best to advise my mentee positively, I had to accept that ultimately it is out of my hands whether they choose to continue with the subject or not and if they came back and still wishes to drop the subject, all I could do was refer them to the correct member of staff. I was able to positively see this as an opportunity to reinspire my mentee’s love for their subject and if that didn’t work then they were not meant to do that at university. By flipping my perspective and purposely trying to be positive I found that I could solve challenges more easily.
Having a more positive attitude at my meetings in general was extremely beneficial as it meant I was able to reassure my mentees that things will improve if they were struggling. A good mentor should communicate optimism and hope. By sharing my own struggles throughout the first term of university, I was able to instill hope and optimism in my mentees and could show them first hand that these challenges will pass. Although many stressful situations will continue to occur during my role as a peer mentor, I now feel more equipped to handle them in a more positive way, making me a more effective and successful mentor. Maintaining a positive attitude really helped me to solve any ‘problems’ as professionally as possible.