I have to admit, I didn’t have much of an expectation coming into college.
All I knew was that I was excited to take the next big step and start a new chapter in my life. The thing I was most excited for, and what I talked to my friends about most often, was the restart. The chance to recreate yourself and meet new people who didn’t know me. As it turns out, that didn’t happen as expected.
One of the many things I learned through this past school year is to never forget who you are.
I learned fairly quickly that trying to be someone you are not is an awful idea. The best advice I can give is to just be yourself. Don’t try to impress people by putting on a facade. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT, care what other people think. You will waste so much time trying to make other people happy that you will find that you, yourself, are not happy.
If you think that the “friends” you made need to be impressed to stay your friends, you don’t need them, they are not real friends. If they are a priority to you, but don’t bat an eye when you need them, they are not real either. Real situations bring out fake people. If someone hates you for no good reason, give them a reason by being the bigger person.
You will also discover that not everyone you meet is going to stick around. College is a hell of a roller coaster and people are going to drop out, transfer, or just flat out walk out of your life. Yes, you might want some of those people to stay, but you have to understand the only path you have 100% control over is your own.
Speaking of your path, your past is both going to be vital to your success and something you are going to want to throw away. A lot of people have a painful past, but don’t let that drag you down. As humans, we tend to remember bad times worse than what they were. If you want to be successful, take what you learned, both good and bad, and use it to your advantage.
To let go of the struggle in your past, you have to embrace it and take what you learned into the future. If you don’t quite understand how to both learn from and forget your past, I promise you will in time. It is difficult to explain but when you can actually do it, it makes a lot of sense.
So many new experiences are going to happen in college. You might make the Dean’s list, or you might drop a class. You might go to events on campus, or you might want to sleep or study all day. You might join a fraternity/sorority, or you might not socialize that much. You will probably wonder if you are doing the right thing, and if in you are in the right place. You might not find the answer that day, week, month, or even that year.
Never forget who you are, and never doubt yourself. Everything is going to be alright.
