College is supposed to be the best four (or five) years of your life. It’s where you make your lifelong friends, try new things, absorb a plethora of knowledge, gain access to resources you never thought you would get the chance to work with, party, become independent of your parents (sometimes), get real life experience for whatever career you want to veer into, and potentially meet the love of your life.
This all sounds familiar, right?
Unfortunately, only half of the things listed are true for a majority of people who graduate college. Granted, there are a handful of people who have the privilege of accomplishing all of these things, but chances are slim for most college students to be able to achieve most of them.
What people don’t mention is that college is also the time to figure out who you are, and that can be a terrifying journey.
You will fly through friendships left and right until you finally figure out whom you really want to surround yourself with. You have to ask yourself: would the people I hang out with come and save me if I needed help? Would they be responsible with me and not get me into trouble? Could I see them being my bridesmaid or groomsman? Do I trust this person?
Along the way, you will be disappointed because true friends are difficult to come by. It’s a sad and unfortunate truth.
This also leads to feelings of loneliness that often encompass college students at some point. There’s not a single student I know of that does not feel isolated at times.
You start doing things on your own. Your agenda becomes more and more packed. You don’t have as much time to hang out and live it up anymore. You find yourself drowned with work and school and responsibilities now that you are shaping into an adult. The loneliness is perpetuated for those who aren’t involved in a relationship, which is more and more uncommon to have nowadays.
College harvests the hook-up culture, so finding your soul mate is challenging to say the least. Most people in college will move on to a different city or state after they graduate. A lot of people don’t want to get involved with someone because it will lead to a temporary relationship. Not only that, but they are surrounded by thousands of opportunities to hook up with someone. Never again will you be in a place with so many people within your age group. This is an opportunity that many take advantage of.
Despite the fact that this experience only holds true for a certain percentage of college students, let’s look at the other side of possibilities:
You could join a fraternity or sorority and live it up throughout the entire time you are in college. You could meet your soul mate through the Greek system or a club and make friends that will stick with you for life. But, in this instance, you may not make the most of your education because you are preoccupied with different aspects of college life.
In college, many people find themselves picking between:
Social life
Family Time
Extra-Curricular Activities
Relationships
Good grades
Jobs
And the reality is that most people can’t have it all. It’s a difficult combination to juggle all at once and thrive at. A lot of students find themselves picking two (maybe three) and lagging on the others.
The most prestigious, hard-working and focused college students can find a healthy balance between it all. They are the ones that will get ahead, do well and thrive in and out of their college years. These are the people you want in your life. These are the people who would make a good life partner. These are the people that will gain the most from their college experience and go on to get good jobs and be self-reliant.
College is what you make it. Even though it is shown in the media as being a time of partying, hooking up, getting emotionally involved, etc., there are so many different aspects to it that are not so enthralling. The work that is involved is a very real and prominent part of the experience. That’s not to say you can’t have fun in college, because you definitely do. It’s just all about moderation and what you want to make out of the time you spend at your university.
College can either be the best or worst years of your life. So make it count.
