It was one of those typical nights where I was lying in bed and thinking about life. The hours were full of thought and my mind was racing faster than I could comprehend. Eventually, my mind settled on one thought. Normally, I tend to dwell on things and become sad on these thoughts. However, this particular mindset was not depressing or as bad as I imagined. I thought about how I don't really fit in anywhere and I was okay with it.
I have always been the type of person who was social with everyone and I had my group of friends. I enjoyed socializing with different groups of people because I liked variety and learning the different point of views these people have. I just didn't feel as if I belonged to a specific group. High school was very "clique" orientated and I believe it did not help individuals stand out as much. Through these thoughts, I have concluded that I am better off as my own person for many reasons. I think that these morals can be used as advice to future, as well as current students.
School has been an important aspect of my new recent chapter. It is all on me to do the work and further obtain knowledge needed for my future career. From past experience, people can influence the way you perform in a school setting and grades can suffer severely. I learned that I have to do everything for myself. The only person who can decide my future is myself.
Another great thing about being an individual is time, in general. Time management is a huge responsibility in college and it is very hard to balance schoolwork or social life. Often, we feel tempted to hang out with friends rather than get schoolwork done. If you have to cancel on someone because of your own obligations, it is okay. My advice is to get all of your work done in the beginning of the week for you don't have to cancel on your friends all the time.
Get involved! Sometimes your friends will not be interested in the same things as you. Don't let them hold you back. When you join a club, you are almost guaranteed to meet new people. These new people can lead to you meeting even more new people. Joining clubs also looks great on resumes because employers/internships love to have students who are greatly involved on campus.
Lastly, drama is totally not worth it. Following the crowd is just a recipe for disaster and should be avoided at all cost. We all were in high school once and that type of mentality tends to stick with some people. Drama just creates stress and tears, which are not necessary.
College has been the best thing I have experienced and I am forever grateful for being here today. Here, at Buffalo State, it is very diverse and I love it. I have met a lot of people who have interesting cultures and different perspectives of growing up. I enjoy meeting, at least, one person a day just to be further enriched in different cultures. I have been especially ecstatic to have met other Latinos and learn more about my own origin. I have also joined clubs and met amazing people so far. I realized that being an individual is very important and sometimes fitting in is not all valuable as we once thought.
