We all have heard the phrase "college will be the best four years of your life!" Be it from family members, high school teachers, or even at your college orientation, probably too many times to count. But here's the thing, college will not be the best four years of my life, because I won't let them be. In fact, part of me can't wait for college to be over, so that I can lead into the actual best years of my life (amidst years of struggling as a millennial and paying back student loans, of course.) I am not at all hating on college or anyone who never wants to leave this unique stage of life, trust me I once thought the same, it's just that I have a plethora of reasons why I will never never define my 17-21 college years as my "best" years.

For starters, not to sound like a grandma, but I've matured a lot in three years at university. I realize that probably makes me sound pompous if not ridiculous, but it's true. Remember when you where a freshman and would hear upperclassmen talking about how much freshmen suck and you were like "well not me though, they probably can't even tell I'm a freshman!"? Looking back, you realize you were so wrong, most freshmen do suck and you probably did too, and that's okay! Because we learn from our mistakes (and let's be real, much of freshman year is made of mistakes) and we grow and mature from them. Back then, I thought that not going out at least once a week meant basically wasting college (my grades certainly paid for this reasoning.) Nowadays, I refer to myself as an "internal 35 year old," someone who would rather have a chill night with friends or watch Netflix and bake desserts with my boyfriend than attend a rager filled with horny frat boys, questionable drinks, and a bunch of drunk girls trying to outdo each other. Sure, these can still be fun once in a while, and this is really the only setting where such a thing is acceptable if not the norm, but they're just not me anymore, at least not so often. I'm sick of the pressure to drink in order to have fun. I'm sick of being called "boring" for doing otherwise. I realize this is somewhat hypocritical considering my former thinking, but hey, people change.

Another reason my college years will never be defined as my best years is the simple, excruciating fact that 2016 was quite possibly the worst year of my life. That is not to say that there weren't good things in my life last year, because there certainly were, but overall it was not a good year for me, especially for my mental health. In 2016 my anxiety came out in full force, as did anxiety/panic attacks along with it. Some friendships got hard, and I sincerely apologize to all those I ostracized or hated for literally no reason (or at least, reasons that make no sense looking back.) It was also a hard year for my family, including the passing of my grandmother in September. However, I'm an optimist, and 2017 has already proven itself to be better than it's predecessor, and I'm hopeful that this will continue. The point is, I don't want my so called "greatest years" to be defined by, frankly, one of my shittiest.

And finally, how can anyone call college the "best years of your life" when there is so much more to look forward to? I will graduate at the age of 21. The last thing I want is to think that my best years are already over when I'm barely legally able to drink in the U.S. You know that group of 40-something year old guys who show up to every one of your school's football games and get like way too into it? Nobody should aspire to be like that. Those guys probably peaked in college, and are refusing to let go of "the good old days." Well, I refuse to live like that. There's so much to look forward to, especially considering I'm basically a thirty-five year old trapped in a twenty year old's body. I would rather spend my money on travelling abroad and having new adventures than going to music festivals with thousands of other sweaty twenty-something's trying to get as close to the stage as possible (no hate on music festivals though, just my personal preference.) I would rather be "settled" with the love of my life than dealing with this hookup culture fueled environment. I would rather have dinner parties with friends or attending happy hour at nice bars than the get-as-drunk-as-you-can-for-as-cheap-as-you-can parties here. Sure, I love a good game of flip cup, and I've made plenty of friends who will be a part of my life forever, and yes, I'm sure that one day I will absolutely look back on college and miss it, but the truth is, I will not be defined by these years. I will not call these the "best years of my life," because the best is yet to come.