When I was applying for colleges and preparing for the future, everyone was excited for me. They told me to get involved, have fun, and make friends. What they never told me, though, was what to do when I felt so overwhelmed I could do nothing but stare at my textbook with a glassy gaze. “You’ll do great,” they said. But aren’t those just empty words? “How’s school?” they ask. But do they expect, anticipate, or even accept an answer that doesn’t come with a smile?
What they never told me was how to handle daily reminders that I’m not the best or the smartest. Haunting realizations that the next four years of my life may not be “the best of my life,” like everyone claims. They never told me how to deal with feeling utterly alone while surrounded by people. They never told me how hard it would be to make deep connections with people when my life is moving at a hundred miles an hour, just like everyone else’s. They never gave me advice on what to do when I thought, I don’t like it here.
Maybe you’ve felt this way too. And maybe you haven’t. Some people are lucky to have fallen in love with college from the start. But as for the rest of us, it is a daily struggle.
It’s waking up in the morning and reminding yourself that while classes are hard and there are too many deadlines with too little time, we are lucky. We live in a world where a good education is a blessing. It’s making the most of the little moments in the day to relax and rejuvenate. For me, that consists of watching Parks and Rec and drinking an Ale 8 (a ginger ale drink native to Kentucky – look it up!). It’s stopping to realize that although college isn’t what the 17-year-old version of yourself expected it to be – 40% work, 60% play, and maybe a paper here and there – college is still exciting. It’s still a new experience that demands your attention and involvement. It’s staying up until 2 A.M. on a weekday because you and your friends spent too much time laughing about cat videos and you still have studying to do. It’s walking through campus with the wind blowing and piles of orange leaves scuttling the sidewalks, and knowing that this right here – this feeling – is peace.
It’s knowing that no matter how rough your chemistry exam went, or how lost you may feel right now, you will graduate and everything will be alright.
So if, like me, you feel lost, confused, and unsure about what the future holds, know that you aren’t alone. Not only are there students around the world in your very position, chances are your friends and peers are struggling too. One of the hardest things to do is admit that you don’t have it all together.
Talk to a counselor, a professor, a friend. But through it all just remember that someway, somehow, it’ll get better.
