College is this grand adventure into the unknown, both exciting and terrifying. This part of your life defines your future and will live with you for the rest of your life. There’s so much to adjust to and to discover. You’re learning about your new environment, but you’re also learning about yourself.

If you’re anything like me, your first year is far too focused on adjusting to the external forces at play all around you. You’re figuring out how to study and what schedule works best for you. A lot of you have moved, and you’re figuring out where things are inside and outside of your campus. Friendships take some time to fall into place, and it’s alright if not all of your friendships in the first year of college are meaningful ones.

College is overwhelming, plain and simple. Most of your first year is spent in general education classes, especially if you haven’t declared your major yet. Everyone is desperately reaching out in an attempt to make a connection because this is new to everyone all at once. It’s like being a freshman in high school all over again, but the stakes are so much higher because this defines your future.

Breathe. Remember that while you’re figuring yourself out, everyone else is trying to figure out who they are, too. That’s part of what the stereotypical “college experience” that there are so many TV show plots and movies about.

A lot of motivational speakers will say that you are the protagonist of your own story. Here, you are. You are in charge of your destiny, and these institutions give you all of the opportunities that you need to shape your destiny the way you want to, even if that means transferring. You have a million different chances; you just have to figure out what it is that you want.

Once you figure yourself out, though, it’s easier to find friends that you will genuinely connect with. I made one really good friend in a general education class my freshman year, but I find myself making so many friends within my major now that I’m beyond the 100 and 200 level classes. We’re able to connect because we’re going into the same general field and share a lot of common interests.

It takes time to find your place, but that’s natural when you have to find who you are as a person first. You’ve been given so much freedom, and you have to figure things out for yourself now. You’re trying to balance grades and a social life, while still having time for yourself.

College is a hard thing to adjust to, but you will find your way through. You will learn what works best for you and how to balance the way you need to to get by. Making friends may take a while, but it’s for the better because you and your new friends will know how to handle your friendship maturely, seeing that you know yourself better than high schoolers did. You’ll work hard for your degree, but you’ll have plenty of opportunities to have fun along the way. Take chances and make this time as amazing as the world says that it is supposed to be. All of this is in your hands.