Over the past several weeks as I have begun my journey into adulthood through college, I've noticed a common theme: The girls who were mean in high school are still mean. I was under the impression that once I started college all that petty, childish bullshit would disappear into oblivion; but no, it's still there. And It's even uglier than one would imagine. The real question is, why? Why are grown women choosing to spend their time tearing down other women when we are busier than we have ever been in our natural born lives?
It's because people are on a power trip. Some people use their newfound freedom and lack of surveillance to spew ugly things from within themselves. Sometimes this is exerted through excessive partying or, overindulgence of food (IE: the Freshman 15), but others use this opportunity to do and say mean things that they are fully aware they would have never gotten away within a public school setting.
For example, I stumbled upon a girl in my seminar class at a party Saturday night. She just so happened to be with a girl that I'm mutual friends with. Me being the people person I am I was excited to see a familiar face. I walked up to her and tried to make conversation, so I asked her " How are you liking Seminar"? To which she responded "lmao whatever" and the obligatory eye roll. To some of you this may seem like a minimal offense, but to someone like me who is all too familiar to that obligatory eye roll, it was devastating.
I felt the same way I did when I was 14 and 15 years old when all those popular girls had done the same thing to me. I was devastated to realize that mean-spirited people don't go away. Not to depress you or anything, but there are always gonna be "Jessica the cheerleader"'s in your path. They only change molds into "Jessica the Anthropology major".
I was under the impression that college was some sort of magical gateway of Nirvana, where everybody finally learned to be decent human beings to one another. Imagine my surprise when I realized that mean girl never die. They are eternal, and much like a Hurricane; a force to be reckoned with.
That being said, not all hope is lost, College is a vast world while high school was only a mere soap bubble. Mean girls thrived in high school, whereas here, their bubble has been popped or seriously maimed in the very least. No wonder they're bitter. The best thing to do is just to kill them with kindness. Respond to that robotic eye roll with an "Oh my God, I love your lipstick!" Their brains will be very confused and if you persist you may be able to slowly rewire them over time to where they may even respond with: a smile. Groundbreaking, I know!
However, If you simply can't muster the strength, just ignore them. Like I said college is such a big place, where you will meet so many more well-rounded people. So if you don't want to have that negativity in your life, all you have to do is choose not to associate with them. It takes little to no effort to never ever have to see someone you don't want to. What are the odds that you will ever have the same class as them, or be in the library at the same time out of the thousands of other students walking around high on caffeine?
