The end of a semester, whether it's Christmas time or summer time, is usually a time to let loose from the responsibilities of school for a bit and just chill out. This is great, but I've also learned that personal growth should never take a vacation.

College goes by so fast. Yesterday I was moving into the dorms for the first time, and now I only have three more semesters. It's amazing how much life perspective we gain just from one semester to the next, in this little bubble between being a child and an adult.

My first two years of college, for instance, I knew that I often felt misunderstood or unable to show my true colors, but failed to brainstorm ways to help myself. For some reason, I thought that forcing myself to be social would be unthinkable, and that no one would understand me. So I only opened up to a couple people.

But there are millions of ways I could've helped myself. For instance, I could've forced myself to join groups of people on my dorm's wing when they grabbed food, or joined a discussion group or club. Even if I didn't want to share my own thoughts right away, I would have heard things that other people were going through. I would have automatically felt so much less alone. As I much as I sometimes don't want to force myself to be social, I know myself enough now to know that it's necessary for my well-being.

Because I didn't take the time to reflect on what I needed to change after every semester of my freshman and sophomore years, this past summer is when I really figured out what I needed to do differently from here on out. I decided that when the school year started, I would commit myself to seeing a counselor every couple weeks. I also decided that I would take the plunge more often in conversation, being honest about what I was going through and not just turning the conversation away from myself at all costs. And while this seems like a small thing compared to the rest, I told myself that I would actually utilize my planner, to make sure I'm making as good use of my time as possible.

Now that another semester is almost complete, I'm most likely going to sit down with my journal and new planner and devise ways to make this next semester as productive as possible. Life's too short to not find new ways to better yourself all the time.