I just read that one year ago I committed to college. I am sitting on my bed in my dorm room doing homework in my last week of my freshman year of college. In one week I will be packing up my room I moved into eight months ago and I will have completed one-fourth of my college education. It is crazy to think one year ago my life was completely different.
Right now you are probably starting to get senioritis. Counting down the days until summer. You are in the middle of you last lacrosse season and it is the beginning of the lasts: the last time you will play lacrosse, your last chorus concert, the last time you will walk the halls of the building you have spent four years of your life in. You and your friends think about all the fun adventures you plan to do after graduation. Thinking that graduation is so far away when in reality it is right around the corner. Soon enough it will be Senior Prom, you will go to all the senior activities, and then boom. Graduation. Then it is over, your high school life will be over and it is time to move onto the next stage.
After seeing a preview of what life will be like, I just wanted to give you a little advice about the future.
1. Change happens all the time
Change is inevitable. Over the next year you will move into a dorm in a completely different state, meet new people, and learn to make your own schedule. One of the strangest transitions was coming to college and discovering you have the power to map out your day. There will be times where the transition is difficult. You will miss your family or your old friends, but you will learn from it. You have a phone to talk to people, you can keep in touch while growing on your own. In this time you will learn to accept change as your friend to learn that is all happens for a reason.
2. Stay true to yourself
This one I should not have to tell you, but as a quick reminder over the next year you need to stay true to who you are a heart. When coming to college it is a place to “be whoever you want” and “a time to be different” and all that, but if you act yourself, you will realize there are some pretty cool people out there who will accept you for being you. You will meet some awesome friends this year and by being yourself you gained true friendships that will last forever.
3. Make time for yourself
This is one of the most important things I need to remind you of. Please, please, please remember that it is okay to have time for yourself. It is okay to stop doing homework and watch an episode of "Parks and Recreation." It is okay to say that you can’t do something because you need a break from school. It is okay. One of the most important things I can tell you from this last semester is that things can easily become overwhelming. One minute you are fine and then the next you are just barely getting enough sleep. Don’t feel guilty and don’t worry because you will make it through.
I know it is too late now, since I am sitting writing this a year later, but you will do great. You will make it through your first year of college perfectly fine with memories and friends that will last a lifetime.
