At the end of my freshmen year, I wrote this guide for my sister to look at when she started to look at colleges. I still look at what I wrote every so often to help me learn from my mistakes and realize what is really important.
1. Remember why you are here.
Yeah, the parties, late nights, and lazy days are fun, but you are here for school. You are here to figure out what kind of person you are, what you like, and who you want to be when you grow up. You know how everyone used to ask you “What do you want to be when you grow up?” when you were 5 or 7? Well, here’s where you make those answers come true.
2. Stay in touch with your family and friends.
A 5-minute phone call or text can mean the world to someone. Just let them know you are thinking about them. Those people have been with you from the beginning and have helped to establish who you are as a person, so keep them in touch.
3. As you hold onto old relationships, be sure to build relationships too while you're here.
Hold genuine conversations, and use eye contact.
4. It’s okay to take some rest days.
Appreciate and listen to your body.
5. Make playlists, lots of them.
One for every occasion, actually.
6. Keep adding to those playlists.
How great will it be to look back at them, too? Music is so so important.
7. Don’t blend in.
Don't blend in when you can stand out.
8. If he says he’ll text you in the morning, chances are he’s not going to text you in the morning.
If this happens, it’s okay because you are worth more than any boy you meet at a frat party. Don’t let boys have control over your self-worth.
8. Once you find a boy that does text you back the next morning, keep him.
9. Laugh, and laugh a lot.
Laughing is the best the of medicine, smiling is too.
10. Stress is inevitable, but remember you have control.
11. A night-in is a night well spent.
12. Alone time is good.
If you ever feel too alone, remember there are other people that are just as lonely in college and away from home.
13. Social media doesn’t define you.
The number of likes you get can’t compare to the number of true friends you have.
14. Willpower and self-control will get you farther than you think, in the long-run, at least.
15. Stick with your friends.
16. Everything happens for a reason.
You're stronger than that stuff you didn't plan that sometimes just barges into your life.
17. It will be okay, I promise.
18. Music heals.
The songs where every lyric fits your current situation are the best because you know you aren’t alone.
19. You have no idea how important your friends are until you're on your own in the real world.
You need them.
20. Make sure you thank those friends for barging into their place and stealing their bed at 11 p.m.
21. Remember the boy I told you to keep? The one that decided to text you back?
Say he texts you back every day and realizes he likes you and cares about you because he got to know you. Say he realizes how much you mean to him, but he's still not ready for a relationship. That’s not your fault. In this instance, you gotta let go of what you wanted to keep.
22. You can keep looking for that boy, but it’s okay if he hasn’t shown up yet.
23. Laugh until your stomach hurts.
It heals just as much as music does.
24. Learning is actually going to become exciting.
25. You are independent, even if you are in the bathroom alone at 3 a.m. holding your own hair back despite having held back many others' hair when they were alone.
26. Prioritize.
27. It’s okay to grow up, and change is good.
28. Realize your values, and stick to them.
29. You gotta stand up for yourself.
If you don’t know your worth, no one else will.
30. There are good people in the world.
31. Be grateful for what you have.
32. Travel as much as you can.
It’s amazing how different people live.
33. You may think it’s love, it may be or it may not be.
Whatever happens, happens. Going into college, I came in with a boyfriend. We were both in love with each other. Things change.
