Back in middle school and high school, I remember learning about college. Not from reading about college, just from what people around me said. "College is the best time in your life! Enjoy it while it lasts." " Party hard in college, that's what it's for!" These are just a couple of the comments I heard growing up about college, but I'm the kind of person who takes other peoples' words to heart. And so, high school was ending, and I was just about college-bound. I remember the excitement of choosing my classes and work shifts, basically arranging my school schedule how I wanted it. I could already taste the freedom. The year started, and finally, I was in college. It was just like I pictured, you get to school, go to a class or two, walk around anywhere, meet a bunch of new people, go to the gym in the same place, it was great. I finally got home after a long day of hanging out at school and looked forward to the next four years.

Then, I woke up the next morning for my 8am. The true nature of college begins to hint at itself. However, I still have some leftover school excitement in my reserves. So I got on with the rest of the school week just fine, getting more and more tired each day. By Friday night, I was toasted. However, it wasn't the time to be toasted, because the first Friday night is the time to go meet people and start your partying career. I partied on Friday, I partied on Saturday, I even hung out on Sunday. Waking up for week two was dreadful. At this point, each week was harder to get through, and it was hard not to hang out from Friday-Sunday because that's our "true" free time.

Eventually, total exhaustion consumed my body. I was so out of it, that I couldn't make rational decisions, or even make rational thoughts. I collapsed. Never had I slept that long in my entire life, or reached that point of exhaustion. After fully recovering, I finally came to my senses, and finally confronted these habits and acknowledged the adjustments that I had to make to get through college.

I could have written this story of myself in a hundred different ways, but this is the one point that I am trying to make: In college, your life starts becoming YOUR life, and every little decision you make from day-to-day is important for your well-being, and your well-being is important for you to get through college in the best way possible, for your future. One of the biggest skills you acquire is time-management. After college, all of the partying and hanging will not be so prominent in our lives, so deciding to be productive more often, or even deciding to sleep is a decision that could help you have enough energy to get through the things that you want to get done, and even pass that make-or-break exam that everybody has at least once. While in college, it's easy to live the college life exclusively, but in terms of your future, you're the only one who can get you where you wanna go. The institution itself makes it possible for many people at once to obtain knowledge and pursue their studies, but the people are the ones who influence these factors that can affect your college experience. Do you, be confident, work hard, party in moderation, and meet the right people. If you do it right, you won't have to tell people that college was the best part of your life. Instead, you can tell them that college helped you to achieve the life you wanted.