We all picked out perspective Colleges for one reason or another; some people love where they went and some people hate where they went. All and all, college is a place to learn; not just learn academic material, but a lot about yourself. You walk in to your first day of school all Doe-eyed and excited moved into your new dorm. You're Bio- Pre med major and you're 15 credit hours of science, or business. Dreams of going to Medical school or Law school thinking you got this. Along with being on your own for the first time, and the pressures of relentless parties and some of them are on a Tuesday. The realization that college is a constant balance act sets in quickly and guess what, you're gonna make mistakes, lots of them. You're going to get bad grades on exams and for some of you it may be the first time you get a 43%. You're going to feel like it’s the end of the world but it’s not. I am a firm believer that if you don't fail, you don't learn. We live in a society where failure is so frowned upon, parents scold their kids for failing an exam, doing something wrong or even not winning in a sport. Yes, of course its out of love most of the time, and they want their child to do the best that they believe they can do. What we don't realize is that punishing and scolding the idea of failure can create fear of failure, and doing anything not to fail in the fear of getting in trouble. For example, cheating on an exam, lying, faking an injury in a spot, the list goes on.
Failure is so inevitable, especially in college. Sometimes its young adults first time drinking, being away from the hawks eye of parents. College is also time to grow and learn what you like and don't like. So many people change their majors so many times. Losing, failing, and other not so favorable things happen in college and thats okay! Let's not live in a society where we idolize perfection and push success that we forget the climb too it and mainly focus on the consequences of failure. We are all in college to grow, thats half the battle. You're truly breaking out of your shell and figuring out what is best for you. What keeps you happy, what your passionate about and even what you don't like. I feel like as a society we don't embrace mistakes, or failures as learn experiences we embrace that as second to the end of the world. Failing a class is not the end of the world along with going out and getting too drunk. That is the entire point of college is to find yourself. If you don't find yourself during your 4-6 years of undergrad you’re doing it wrong. This ridiculous stigma and pressure to finish college in 4 years is also absurd. What's the rush? College is HARD, sorry but you're eventually going to get a hard professor or run into a class thats difficult and have to retake it or drop it.
I wonder if there is anyway to stop the ridiculous expectations that are in place for young adults who are trying to live on their own in a different city sometimes, decide what they want to do for the rest of their lives at 18-20, manage their health and wellness, the list goes on. We can't be so hard on ourselves even though society demands us too. Let's just breathe and remember everything is going to be okay, It’s just a test, a class, a bad night, or all of the above. We're so young, and we're trying our hardest; everything will be alright.
