Isn't it funny how you go off to college when you're 18 and all of a sudden you have to live on your own and do everything by yourself? You have new responsibilities like spending your money wisely and making sure you study hard for a test. You're treated like an adult.
But really, that is the scariest part of all. That now you're expected to make important decisions by yourself simply because you moved away from home. The reality is, you're still going to feel like you have no idea what you're doing. And that's okay because that's normal. I used to look at people in their twenties and think that they had everything figured out. Now I'm close to that age and I realize that we're just pretending we know how to handle everything, but really we're just going through every day with the attitude of "wing it."
You're always going to feel like you don't know what in the world you're doing, no matter how old you are. Even though we're "adults," we consider our parents and other elders the adults, because for us, it's hard to believe that we have so many more responsibilities now. But we do. College shows us how much more we can handle and what all we can do on our own, but all the while we have that feeling in the back of our heads that we're not doing something right. I just finished my freshman year of college, and while I did learn a lot about myself and have to adjust to things, I still have trouble considering myself an adult.
It's just a mindset that is hard to get rid of. You get older (and hopefully wiser) with each passing day, but it's hard to comprehend that you and only you are responsible for yourself now. What if I do something wrong? What if I make a wrong decision? Chances are, you're going to; I know I have. But it's okay, because learning from our mistakes and gaining new experiences teaches us valuable lessons, and even though we don't always realize it, that is what makes us adults.
Adults are just people who have gone through life longer than us and have more experiences. I know we think that being an adult means you're supposed to have your whole life together, but let's be honest, who really does? Sometimes you're going to think that you just shouldn't be allowed to be an adult and make "grown up" decisions, but there's nothing you can do to stop it. Most days you're just going to feel like you're just pretending to have your life together, but, as the saying goes, "Fake it till you make it." Don't forget that even though you're technically an adult, you're only in college, and it's normal that you're going to make mistakes, so don't beat yourself up about it. One day you'll look up and realize you became an adult without even realizing it....and then you'll probably wonder how that happened.
Just going through life and facing the many obstacles in college, no matter how challenging or how you feel you handled them, makes you more mature. You may not feel like an adult right now (and maybe you never will), but don't worry. You'll figure this thing called life out, day by day.
