I am blessed to have a group of friends that I am confident are true friends and will be for life. They are there for me, whether that means I’d come to them laughing or crying, and I am there for them too. We mutually don’t pressure each other into things, and there is no social criterion to meet in order to fit in. However, often in college you reach the point in life where your emotional intelligence and need for freedom may be put to a test.

College students are going after their dreams, thriving on independence, and do not want to be seen as a child anymore. The desire to fit in as an adult while still having fun can be harder to obtain than expected. Socially, college is known to be a place for experimenting and sharing crazy drinking stories. I cannot count how many times I have overheard people talking about how much fun they had last night and conversations about the crazy things their friends did that they probably won’t remember in the morning. Partying and drinking to a point of excess has become an accepted normal to college students; it’s now considered simply "having a good time". It’s us growing out of having fun as kids to having fun as adults; it’s posting it on social media to prove how independent you are. While in reality, this is not living out your freedom. Partaking in this accepted lifestyle of “going out” aka "getting wasted" that night, is living a life restricted to society.

We need to come to the realization that staying in isn’t childish or boring, that getting drunk does not have to be our normal. A true friend won’t care if you decide not to go to the party. They will support you in becoming free in a different way. Not out of spite of doing whatever you want, but free to have full self-respect and individuality. Falling into the trap of “everybody does it” is not living out freedom. It is a constricting life, which you have the power to change.

One reason I love college is that I get to follow my dreams while spending times with friends that turn into the life long stories. Those stories don’t have to be located at a party or end with a hangover the next morning. My college stories aren’t going to be the “normal” ones, but they will be full of joy and friends that accepted me for who I am. The four years I spend at college are going to be full of embracing my true independence and opportunities of growing into the person I want to be by not doing something because it is “what college kids do.”

We all will have college stories. It's important, though, to not have stories for the purpose of sharing the more shocking adventure, or to fit in with social "norms". Rather, have stories that will be special memories for the rest of time, and not dependent on what others do or think.