At one time or another, everyone has come across the saying, “I just need to find myself”. We can find the words at the end of Taylor Swift’s “Out of the Woods” video, Taylor talks about finding herself after losing the boy.

But what does that even mean? After watching “Out of the Woods,” my I want to ask Taylor Swift, “Did you have to look far to find yourself?”

We use college as an opportunity to find ourselves. But “finding our-self” is not the right phrase to describe the college experience. At first, "finding our-self" sounds like the right way to describe the college experience―taking time to explore who you are, doing some self-reflection, or exploring new things. However, that is not really finding yourself. Self-exploration is actually personal development. Why? Looking at the definition for both “finding” and “development” from Webster, we get the following definitions:

Finding: a legal decision or the results of an investigation

Development: the act or process of growing or causing something to grow or become larger or more advance or the state of being created or made more advanced.

Using these two definitions, the two words are very different when applying to self-exploration. Finding yourself results in returning to your original self―the original self that made you want to go and find yourself. Developing yourself moves and grows the self beyond the original self that needed to change. In other words, taking time to develop yourself gives yourself an opportunity to reach full potential.

During college, we find what we like to study, we find our passions, and we find what we’re interested in. Even though we use the word “find” the action we are actually taking is developing ourselves. New passions, interests, and studies are being created or becoming more advanced―not the results of a self-investigation.

We develop ourselves when we connect with people who will further our experiences, try new activities, and further advance a current hobby (or hobbies) that we picked up in high school. Meeting new friends who have different beliefs or life perceptions than ours develops tolerance, an ability to look at life in a new way, and a more global understanding. New activities develop a willingness to be removed from our “comfort zone”, and when uncomfortable situations come up, we learn how to navigate them. The numerous clubs offered at colleges provide an easy opportunities to push ourselves beyond that comfort zone.

But college does not have to be all about trying new things. College is also a time to further advance something we are already interested in. Intermural sports are great ways for us to still play the favorite sport in high school. We get to study our favorite interests allowing us to continue learning more about what really matters to us.

In sum, do not worry about having to find yourself―you already are you therefore you have found yourself. Look for ways for personal development so you can move yourself forward in life.