College will forever be it’s own entity and labeled as a specific “time period” of our lives. I am currently 20 years young, and I can say that each year of college teaches me a new set of lessons. Freshman year, I learned about leaving home. Sophomore year, I learned about working a class schedule with an internship. While I hold onto what I learned my freshman and sophomore years, I have learned new things in my junior year.

I’ve learned to actually take care of myself, without the help of Seton Hall’s campus. This comes with every day of college and with every day of not living home. But this year, I moved off campus. I live in an apartment with two other people. I cook my own meals and I have to keep my apartment somewhat clean. There is no one preparing food for me or buying my groceries for me. I have to remember to go grocery shopping and to consider what I am going to eat for the next week or two weeks. I have to remember to clean my own dishes.

This may sound shocking, but I have to remember to feed myself.

I don’t worry about looking perfect anymore. I remember who I am and I remember that I accept myself as I am. If someone else can’t accept me, than I obviously don’t want that person in my life, whether that means in relationships or in friendships. Growing up we all have this idea in our head that we need to look perfect all the time through hair, makeup, our clothes, and our shoes. I don’t let this control my life anymore.

If I leave the gym all sweaty, I am not afraid to wait in the Dunkin Donuts line on campus to get my afternoon pick-me-up. I don’t care if that cute guy from my English class sees me looking pretty nasty. I just worked out! And I’m proud of that, so how I look right now is what I will accept of myself. And you should too.

I now understand what the meaning of self-worth is. Maybe it comes with the maturity, but I am constantly learning that people in my life may not always be there for the best reasons and may not necessarily be helping me with my self-worth. That is okay, not every person I meet or interact with is going to do that.

But I’ve learned to let those people come into my life and let them go. If they are affecting the way I see myself, then they are not worth holding onto. The way that other people see us can really affect the way we see ourselves. But that is not important to me. I want to know everyday that I love myself and that’s all that matters. This ties back into my point about not needing to be “perfect”.

Junior year was a rollercoaster, but a fun one, definitely. With the twists, turns, loops, and drops, it taught me about what I want from this life and what I want to bring with me to my senior year.

My responsibility, my imperfections, and my self-worth.