I think we all had preconceived ideas of college before actually going off to college either in or out of state, close to or away from our friends and family. None of us had no idea what to expect and there were definitely things I wish I had known...
1. I wish I'd known that not everyone would adore you the way your friends and family from your hometown adore you.
That not everyone would look at you with the same awe and wonder as your parents do when they realize that they created you, that they influenced you so heavily, the person you are today.
2. I wish I'd know that "love" is not always in the form of a relationship.
With hand holding while watching uninteresting movies and enchanting gazes over dinner, but more in the way your very best friend holds you when you're shaking from the core, crying uncontrollably or in the way your favorite professor positively and emphatically comments on your most prized work. In the way your parents call you just to say they're proud of you. In the way you look at yourself in the mirror after realizing that you're finally happy with who you've become.
3. I wish I'd known that I would never cook.
The crock pot, crepe maker and blender were all nice sentiments and will be incredibly useful when I finally decide to get my life together (thanks mom), but right now they take up space and make me feel a deep disappointment every time I realize I will never, ever buy more than microwavable soup and Flaming Hot Cheetos. The idea that somehow, once you get to college, you will become a domestic goddess is cute, but honestly, you won't have time to prepare a five star meal and most nights you'll end up eating a bag of popcorn and drinking cranberry juice while watching Scandal, because, hey, if Olivia Pope can survive off of red wine and popcorn, so can I (or, at least, cranberry juice).
4. I wish I'd known that you really, truly should surround yourself with friends who have plans for their future and friends who don't.
You need friends who enjoy red solo cups and friends who prefer textbooks and flashcards. Surround yourself with people who push you to grow and find your place, surround yourself with people who don't have the same values and beliefs, who haven't grown up the same way you have because then, you will find yourself. In the abyss and mess of differences is where you will truly find who you wish to be.
5. I'd wish I'd known that wearing sweats and a t-shirt to class is okay sometimes.
But you really should try to impress your professors, because they will be the ones to help you get into graduate school and teach you everything you wish to know about life. I also wish I'd known that your professors should become your friends, your mentors and more than your teachers. They want the best for you, sometimes they don't show it well.
6. I wish I'd known that it's okay to be different.
It's okay to listen to Chance The Rapper and Majical Cloudz when everyone else listened to Twenty One Pilots and Tim McGraw. It's also okay to listen to Tim McGraw and Twenty One Pilots, even though you want to pretend to be a hipster and stand out. It's okay to be different and it's okay to fit in. Like what you like and be proud of it.
7. I'd wish I'd known that love isn't found in a fraternity house (except in the rare case that it is).
That every boy you date won't be the right one and that most guys who invite you over after 11 pm aren't looking for their future wife. I'd wish I'd known that it's okay not to want a relationship or marriage like everyone else and that it's okay to be perfectly content on your own.
8. I'd wish I'd known that the library would become a safe haven.
That within those walls I would discover more of myself and others than ever before. I would learn what I could handle intellectually and what my friends' deepest troubles are. I would learn definitions and vocabulary words but I would also learn kindness and compassion.
9. I'd wish I'd known that loving yourself isn't in any particular way.
But it's in the way you look at yourself when you put on makeup and you feel beautiful, in the way that you hold yourself at night when you've had a long day. In the way that you twirl in your favorite dress or in the way that you light a candle just to feel warmth.
10. I'd wish I'd known that the time I spent stressing was a waste of my mind and my life.
That the time I spent worrying about an exam grade or a boy was time I could have spent doing things I enjoyed. I'd wish I'd known that living in the moment would be my saving grace. I'd wish I'd known that in just a few years, most of the things that hurt me or bothered me would not matter. That life is too short to constantly ask "what if" (thank you dad).
