The year a person turns 18 is a year full of social, physical and emotional changes. You leave home for and for the first time, the only person accountable for you is yourself. It's the year you decide if you will choose the path of higher education, or dive in head-first as a member of the working class, it's when you decide whether or not you want to serve our country, when you can choose to pick up your first pack of cigarettes, buy a lottery ticket, and take advantage of all the bad vices this world has to offer. I've learned a few things since I turned 18, both good and bad, and I've selected five pieces of advice I have gathered in my first year of actual responsibility.

1. The only person you need to impress is yourself.

I don't know about you, but my whole life has been a competition. From childhood to this very day every choice I have made whether it was academically, socially or physically has been under scrutiny. The dark cloud of "comparison" has followed me around for as long as I can remember whether that comparison be with my own family, my peers or that handful of girls that would be a better version of myself. I started 18 trying to find ways to prove to others that I was worth it, that I was driven, outgoing and studious. That was my first mistake, I was slaving away to be the person I wanted others to look at me as. I was so focused on changing others' perception of me that I completely lost my identity. Learn to make decisions to impress no one but yourself, after all you can never leave your own side.

2. People are going to talk, and not only that but they're going to talk for no apparent reason.

If I had to tell you one of my biggest character flaws, it would be that no matter how much I pretend I don't care about others' opinions of me, I truly do. You would think that the older you get the more mature those around you would become, but nope. People get more vicious, and the rumors get more hurtful. You just have to learn that you won't be able to make everybody happy, and that people are going to say ugly things about you for no reason. Nowadays, somebody will always be able to find something to say about you to drag you down to your lowest point, and for a long time I let what I would hear others say about me destroy me. You'll want to give up, you're going to get livid, you may or may not cry, but you have to remember this is how people are. You can't change others, but you can change your reaction to their behavior. It's OK to cut people who are hurtful to you out of your life, but what's not OK is to be a shitty person to somebody you despise for no particular reason.

3. You're never "too young."

18 is when you're legally considered an adult, but for some odd reason that means nothing to the general public over the age of 25. Remain persistent, pass out all the resumes you possibly can until your hands literally give out on you. What tends to impress adults, is when they see the ground they have covered in a span of 18/19 years. If I listened every time somebody told me I was too young to have such prodigious aspirations, I wouldn't be an 18 year old girl writing for Odyssey, maintaining an officer position in her fraternity, with her own photography company, having a 9 to 5 job and working on the marketing team for CABRA fashion magazine. You are capable of anything and everything, and your age should never be what restrains you from pursuing everything you have ever dreamt of.

4. Be fiscally responsible…please.

I am embarrassed to tell you how easy it is for me to blow my own money, and honestly not even on myself most of the time. In college you just have so much stuff you didn't realize you would have to pay for like chapter dues, social events, UBER rides, date nights, gifts, etc. These things literally drained my bank account so badly it was pathetic really, so one of the biggest thing I have taken from being 18, is learning to save my money by the time I hit 19. It's always smart to divide your money three ways, savings, necessities and leisure. You never want to run short on cash, and learning to divvy up your finances in an easy to understand way has proven to be pretty effective in most cases, I use the app "Mint" to allocate my funds to their rightful homes. Give it a try, it's a great way to see where your money is going.

5. Surround yourself by people who know your worth.

Being undervalued by those you hold to such a high regard is the worst feeling there is, so remind yourself you deserve to feel supported during this big change in your life, college is scary, shoot, adulthood is all around terrifying. If you're surrounding yourself with the right people it will never feel like a task, you'll feel secure and most importantly you'll feel happy. Your happiness is something that can't just be pushed aside time and time again, so choose those you constantly appreciate, and those who constantly appreciate you rather than those who are quick to judge and devalue you.

So there it is, a few jumbled thoughts I have deemed the "keys to understanding your first year of adulthood". Thanks for the read ladies and gentlemen!