1. God will try you
"That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:10
I wish I had gone into college knowing what it would entail. I wish I had been prepared for everything I knew and loved to suddenly be hundreds of miles away. Yes, I signed up for it. I knew it was coming, but I didn’t actually know what it would look like. But it is when we are weak that God makes us strong. Through our hardships, He shows us that all we really need is Him.
2. Missing class is okay
It’s okay. Really. Maybe don’t skip a whole semester of math like I did, but skipping a lecture here or there because you would rather be sleeping isn’t going to hurt anyone.
3. Choose friendship
You’ve just walked onto a campus with thousands of other 18-year-old's who are also looking for someone to eat donuts with at midnight or go adventuring with on Saturday afternoons…turn off the TV. Put your phone away. Choose friendships over going home every weekend. It will pay off, I promise.
4. Eyes on the road
Not only do you not know anyone, but no one knows you. That friend in high school that always liked to poke fun at your past doesn’t control you anymore. Stop letting others tell you where to walk. Your path has been paved, follow it.
5. Go
I know that it is hard to loosen the ropes that tie you to the past eighteen years of your life, but if you don’t go now, you never will. Whether it’s going to a school across the country or going on a camping trip with those girls down the hall that you barely know, stepping out of your comfort zone is crucial for growth.
6. Freshman 15 is very real
No matter how hard you try to avoid it, at some point in the semester you will find yourself binge eating on three-day-old pizza and chugging soda like it's your life source. We might not all admit it, but we all do it. You'll work it off running to the class you're late for the next day.
7. You are your own SSA
If you think your SSA, or student advisor, is going to do anything for you, you're probably wrong. Plan on making your own appointments and borderline harassing them before you get into the classes you want. I looked up my advisors home phone number over the summer because classes started the next week and there wasn't even a record that I was enrolled at the school. Totally normal.
8. It's the hardest part of your life so far, but the easiest part of the years to come.
I've recently realized that life only gets harder, but it also becomes more worth it. Like writing an essay, the harder you work on it and the more time you invest into it, the higher the value it will hold to you.
9. Slow down
You're going to want to remember this. Don't let the buzz blur your memory.
10. Forget the ring by spring
Especially at a Christian school, don't be surprised when you are constantly being blinded by the reflection of diamonds on every hand you look at. Don't let the plans set before others damper the way you view your own road. There's not enough married housing for us all to get hitched the second week of college.
11. You're in college
Stop worrying about that internship that's going to land you a sweet job in four years. Take the job at the coffee shop over a job in an office. You have the rest of your life to be stressed out and you're only 18 once.
College is not easy and quite frankly, whoever says it is, is a liar. God will try your patience and press your emotions. He will make you feel isolation and show you a whole new, scary side of life that you’ve never experienced. All of this, yes, He will do…but at the same time God will transform you. Whether you are prepared or not he will strengthen you and ground you, showing you what it feels like to grow up. He will give you a new appreciation for the people in your life, and if your college experience is anything like mine (which is very probable), He will give you some of the best friends you’ll ever have. This scary side of life is exhilarating and oh, so, so worth it. These are the things I wish I would have known, but I also didn’t mind learning them on my own.
