Life is funny. At age 8, we feel invincible. We don’t know the ugliness of the world or that anything bad could ever happen to us. At age 18, we graduate high school. We feel accomplished and like we have been through it all. We feel experienced and on top of the world and like we know everything. And then we go to college.

I remember the day my family dropped me off at my college dorm on that first night. I kept thinking of little, insignificant things that I desperately needed just so they would stay. However, the time came when I had to hug them goodbye and face the world on my own. I was terrified. I was ecstatic. But most of all, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

Before entering college, we feel like we already know ourselves. But the truth is, we had not even begun that journey yet. During our college years, more happens in one week than what used to happen in a year. We experience living independently. We experience pure joy and extreme heartache. We grow into ourselves and become adults. We go through copious amounts of trials and tribulations; yet, somehow we come out on the other side stronger, grown adults.

So for all of you college kids out there still reading this, remember this: college is just a stop along the way. You may not have a permanent address, money for a good meal or the knowledge of what this next week will bring you, but we are all here working toward something more than just a degree. We spend way too many hours in the library past midnight just to earn that degree. But that piece of paper is not the only thing we are earning. Without realizing it, we are building ourselves in the process. At this chapter in our lives, we face many hardships and can’t always see the light at the end of the tunnel. Despite our doubts, we will emerge wiser, stronger and better for everything we experienced during this stop along the away.