As another finals week comes to an end, I have successfully finished my junior year at my first non-community college ever.

I don’t think I’ve ever changed more than I have changed in the year of 2015-2016 to date. As you get older, I think that you learn more about your identity and about your true self. This year has helped me start realizing all that.

You’re told to go to college to get a good education and get a job, get married, and get that white picket fence around your house with the kids and the dogs. Too bad I don't necessarily want all of that. I think the American dream is a lot different than it used to be.

Don’t get me wrong, I want to get a good education, possibly someday get married, and have kids, but I also want to experience every single thing I possibly can at this age. To be honest, when I’m 30, I probably won’t be able to do most of the stuff I want to do now if I have a spouse, and kids, and the five greyhounds that I want to have. This isn’t to say my life will suck or anything, because I am sure that I will be having a great life, but the point is, you need to do the things you want to do if you are able to do them while you can do them.

I think there are a lot of factors that stop people from doing those things. Money, where you are in life, your parents, if you care about what people think of you; these are all things that stop people from being and going to where they want to be. It’s easier said than done, but attempting to stop caring and living the life you want to live is the better way to go.

The more you care about what people think, the more you stop living for yourself. You’re living for the other people. So, stop doing what your parents want you to do, stop doing what your friends want you to do, stop listening to the people who have no effect on the things that pertain to you and your life. If you want to go on that trip, save up and do it. If you want to change your major because it’s going to make you happy, then do it. Do the things that you want to do that will make you happy in the long run, not other people, because at the end of the day, the only person who is guaranteed that you’re going to go to bed with is you and only you.