One might think that the mean and petty girls and boys would come to a halt once high school ended.

But the truth is, the world only gets meaner, harder and uglier.

Learning to stand up for yourself in the real world — opposed to learning how to play and share blocks — is one of the biggest and most important lessons that one can grasp in their lifetime.

Arriving at college, most of us are in search for a new start. New location, new people, new mindset; the world is placed in the palm of our hands. Unfortunately, while you may have matured, not everyone else has. It does not matter where you go or what you do, there will continuously be those who do not like you and that is OK. It is how you deal with them that allows you to grow to be the bigger, better and stronger person.

Sometimes, you will meet these certain individuals right away and others may be your friend for some time before their true colors show. It is not to say that you will be the expert of perfect decisions, but it is how you will react to when you are in the wrong or how others hurt you. It is never easy to accept that someone may be bringing you down, but by ignoring and continuing living your best life, you are being the bigger and better person. There is no question; in certain situations you will be driven to treat them just as they have unfairly treated you.

Through each small step and your small works of proving that you are kind and untouchable, you can show those around you, the stable ground that you stand upon.

When around those who you may not know personally, it might be easy to simply shrug off the situation and move on. However, when it is someone close to you, the situation may sting more than expected. You are human, you have emotions; no one expects you to not feel anything in those times. When the situation arises, cry ... do what you need to do, run a couple miles, dance your heart out, scream on the phone to your mother, anything but confront the individual.

In the heat of the moment, your immediate reaction might be to contact them and curse them out or whatever else it might be, but the key to being the bigger person is to not add fuel to the flame.

Instead, douse the situation in water. End it.

Recall how you were raised and that this too shall pass. Sometimes all that person needs is time to heal. Let them heal. Whether or not they come back around, realize that you did it for the right reasons. You had every reason and power to hurt them back, but you are in fact the bigger person and you cannot be stopped. Your friendship might take time to heal, but in the end, by being mature, you also allowed them to realize that you were the bigger person and they will learn from their mistakes.

That is what it takes sometimes and that is OK. We all learn somewhere.

Although you might be somewhere in your college years when you realize that the world is still ugly, know that you can be the one to slowly turn it pretty again. Spread kindness even when the world is unfair to you. Some day in the work force, you will be introduced to an entirely new group of people and it will be difficult to work with some and easy to work with others.

That is life.

In those situations, think back to playing blocks in pre-school; everyone must work together to be happy and compromise. You win some, you lose some, but the world keeps turning and you are going to get through it all through understanding that you need to be the bigger person.