We have all heard someone tell us that college is going to be the best four years of our lives. In the heat of it all, I know that I have had moments where I have thought, "dear God, please don't tell me that this is going to be my peak." But when I sit down and really think about it, yes, these years are very formative for us and yes, the people who are telling me that I should cherish them are older and wiser, so perhaps I should listen rather than roll my eyes like the stereotypical teen in every sitcom.
The best way to cherish something? Save it. Write about it.
I know that writing often comes with the stigma that you have to have a leather-bound notebook, wear hipster glasses, and sip tea whilst looking at some scenic view, contemplating life. In reality, we are all writers in some way--even a text or a tweet involves writing--so the idea of journaling shouldn't be intimidating. Just jot something down. Something that takes practically no time can become something timeless.
If you ever kept a diary as a kid, you know how seeing and reading what was important to you then can be so refreshing and often comical. Write now so that future you can smile and see that stressing about whether or not Brad from Cappu-Cappu-Cino liked your Instagram post is such a menial problem in comparison to getting your taxes in on time.
I don't want to make it seem as though journaling only allows Future Me to smile at College Me's silly priorities. The little things that we take for granted now and that could easily be forgotten can bring so much joy later. Maybe I don't think about all the late nights my friends and I spend in the back room of the library much now, because I am living it, so it is nothing special.
However, come graduation, the weird things we drew on the whiteboard or the sentences we came up with for hangman may slip from my mind and resurfacing those memories through reading about them will surely be a happy little moment filled with nostalgia.
So journal! Put in the little effort needed now to be able to see how much you've grown later. We are only in this mindset once, so don't miss your opportunity to record it and see what college-you is thinking, feeling, and experiencing. Just jot it down.