We're conditioned that we need to have our lives figured out by 25, max. You need to know what you're studying before you even enroll in college, you need to have a career lined out before you graduate, you need to be married with children before you get anywhere near 30. Anything that strays from what is socially acceptable scares the shit out of us.

And that's how you get trapped.

You're young, you're in college, you're living some of the best times of your life. The idea that you need to have life ironed out and set in stone in its first quarter is ridiculous.

Going into college undecided is totally normal. You have a reasonable time period to explore options and interests before it begins to affect your expected graduation time, so don't be afraid to milk that. You're going to be studying whatever you choose for a minimum of four years, so you might as well choose something you're interested in and good at. And you're not a failure if you graduate without being hired. That's normal, competition can be fierce in the professional world.

Just because you've been in a relationship for a "long time" doesn't mean that it's the one. You don't have to marry the person you've been with since sophomore year of high school, especially if you're unhappy. There's a whole ocean out there, so you don't need to think you're stuck with some fish from a pond that won't let you reach your true potential.

It's okay to be single. We have a tendency to get really scared of that scenario and think if we're not in a long-term, committed relationship by age 20 that we're going to die alone. Don't let that nagging voice in the back of your head scare you into settling. You'll only look back on this chapter in your life with regret.

Your hometown may be your hometown, but you don't have to live and die there. There's an entire world out there, begging you to journey and see it. There's no reason for you to feel trapped in a town full of drama with nothing to do other than being reminded of the memory of your middle school self. Go far away for college, take a job on the opposite coast, or move just far enough away that your parents can't surprise visit—it doesn't matter what you do, just drive.

You have your whole life ahead of you. We're all dramatic and think that life ends after we graduate from college, but we can't let those thoughts frighten us into a stagnant life. You're far too young to think that you're stuck anywhere, with anyone.