"The best four years of your life."

This is what every parent says, every teacher, every adult, and every friend. But what if college isn't the best four years of your life?

Are you now some kind of anomaly? Does everyone have the perfect transition to college? Is it easy for everyone? Does everyone automatically have the best time?

The answer is no.

The Snapchats you see from the seniors of your high school who have just started college are not the whole story. College is not perfect for everyone. Here you are, thrown into a new world of responsibility. You can go out, party, and get drunk every night with no one stopping you. You spend a couple hours a day in class and then have so much free time you don't know what to do with yourself. The world it seems is yours to conquer.

And yes, the world definitely is yours to conquer, and college definitely is filled with brilliant opportunities but, for some people this does not all come together within the first semester. Or even the first year. Or ever. And that's okay.

With a new semester starting, incoming freshman will be hearing the tagline of college. How it was the best four years of their parent's lives and how much fun they will have. And while it is something to be excited for, it is not something to enter with heightened expectations.

College is hard.

It's balancing classes, extra curricular activities, friends, parties, and a whole bunch of free time. It's taking care of yourself the first time you're alone with the flu. It's making sure to eat something other than pizza and trying to manage your meal plan balance. It's dealing with 500 people classes and going to office hours. It's studying for hours at a time and trying to understand when to take a break. It's worrying about your GPA and your major choice. It's still dealing with mean friends and trying to find your real ones. It's doing your laundry and handling buying textbooks.

And yes college is rewarding. You can do well in class and love the things you learn. You get to pick things that interest you, after you complete any requirements. You get to meet many different types of people from so many different places. But that doesn't mean it's perfect.

There are times where you will want to go home.

There are times where you will not want to be in college anymore. There are times where people who you thought were your friends will turn out to be cruel. There are times where classes will be to tough and your laundry will overflow. But this is normal.

College being hard is normal, and it's okay. Please don't think that if college is difficult you're different. Don't think that everything must be perfect because thats what people always say and the movies always show. Just know that you are not alone and it will get easier. You can handle whatever obstacle is stumbling you right now, and nothing is worth ever giving up.

College doesn't have to be perfect, and I promise you will have many many amazing years of your life. If it happens to be these four then that is amazing, but if not that's okay too.