Dear College Students,

I am a fellow college student. Is it not fun? All the sleepless nights, the "eye-bleeding" material that we force ourselves to read and the tears we shed when the 110 percent that does not seem like enough. It is strange that people surrounding us state that "the college years will be the best of your life," when the level of stress that is endured seems to add 20 years of age to our bodies. Yet, they are right.

College is a time to find yourself, become your own individual person, discover life and make memories. There will be no other time in our lives that we will have the opportunities to drop everything we are doing and go on an adventure. I think it is important that we take the opportunity while we can.

If someone asks if you want to go hiking with a group of people, go. The drive may be long, you may not know everyone in the group, you may not even like hiking, but it is going to be an experience. If a friend asks if you want to spend the weekend with their family, go. If you see a road with a cool name, follow it to see where it goes, it may become a new favorite spot. Challenge yourself to do something you may have never done before, never heard of. It might become a new favorite thing, or it can be an awful experience that you can laugh about later.

I am not saying go do reckless things that can cause severe harm, but step out of the comfort zone you have created and live life to the fullest. Go to class, study, cry, succeed and after all of that go do something that will allow you to learn outside of a notebook. Even making a new friend can seem like a challenge, but when you meet someone that holds your interests learn from them as well. Make memories together.

Adventuring outside of the class room can become such a beneficial experience and it is all part of life. Do not envy other peoples adventures. No, make your own and have other people envy them. College is such an amazing time through all the work and stress, but if you balance it out with life you learn valuable lessons. Do not look at someone else's social media and have that be the adventure of your life. That is their memory not yours.

This is the time to discover life and all it has to offer. Do not confine yourself to a book or pen and paper, go out and explore. Make memories and find yourself. Create stories that other people will be envious of.

Your's Truly,

Just Another College Student