Data from the National Association of Professional Organizers shows that disorganization can lead to a 20% loss in productivity. According to Mental Health America, a clean living space helps promote a daily sense of calmness and control in your life.

First-year Baylor students are required to live on campus in one of Baylor’s dorm communities, meaning all these students will inevitably have to manage living with limited space. However, not all dorm spaces are created equal.

Dorm rooms and shared apartments function like small laboratories of adulthood. They are imperfect, crowded and often uncomfortable by design. You learn quickly that no one is coming to enforce bedtime or remind you to eat vegetables. In that absence, habits quietly step in to fill the void. How you wake up, how you respond to mess, how you treat shared space, how you handle tension — these patterns begin to solidify long before you realize they are becoming yours.

“I appreciate it a lot more, because I’m getting to be a part of the hard work instead of just having it done for me,” Everitt said. “I think it was a good experience and a good way to meet the other people in our hall.”

“If you are there long enough, you don’t really have a choice,” Hemsworth said. “I suppose prison starts to feel like home to inmates.”

We all need a little good fortune and flow in our lives. Learn how to Feng Shui your dorm and intentionally bring in that good energy with organization and room placement.

For those who have lived in Dawson and Allen, the renovation is very welcome. Houston senior Natalie French gave an example of just how old the dorms really are.

“A girl and I lived down the hall from each other [in Dawson], and her Grandma went to Baylor, and she lived in Dawson. When she walked in, she goes, ‘Oh my gosh, it looks the exact same!””

1500 miles away from home and three years in, I can finally say I’ve somewhat made Baylor a second home. It’s never too late to join an organization that best fits you. Remember to take a deep breath. You may not be able to see the future, but you can give it your all and go for it.

Being in college for three years has taught me many things, the most important being the best ways to elevate a 50-cent cup of instant noodles. There are a lot of different ingredients that can be added to this staple to make it a little more interesting.

This week we’re bringing you a story from one dormitory which may be an issue in several, mold. We’ll also…

Moving into a tiny room with a stranger is intimidating. As a freshman, you not only have to deal with finding your classes and enduring the chaos of running the Baylor Line for the first time, but you are also expected to make lifelong friends. Rest assured, you don’t need to learn your roommate’s deepest secrets or memorize their family tree in one day — it’s much easier.

It isn’t that spending time alone is wrong. Everyone needs to recharge. But when “recharging” becomes a go-to activity, we need a paradigm shift. Fulfillment comes through relationships and community; isolation compounds bad habits and leaves us more lonely than ever.