There are lots of changes between high school and college. You’re finally on your own (kinda), you get to run by your own schedule (kinda), and you get to a brand new array of friends that you can pick and choose from (depending on who takes the best notes in your hardest class). But what I’m saying is that there are a lot of new freedoms and things to celebrate because you’re considered an adult now, no matter how immature you are and how little you deserve the title “adult”.

With all of these changes, it’s fair to state that the biggest change is within us. You enter college as a terrified freshman with no idea what the heck is going on, and quite frankly, you’re kind of the same as a sophomore; just a year older and the freshman 15 conquered. Though you may maintain immaturity, you also become wiser. You begin to understand what is important and what deserves your time and attention while ATTEMPTING to balance that with finishing the academic side of college and maintaining a mild sanity. Seems simple right?

We learn what makes us happy, what gives us that spark that makes us still wake up for our 8 am’s, as heinous as they may be. Something about the experience of college, staying up until 2 am on the regular, living with your best friends, having a mental breakdown in the library, witnesses those around you go through high’s and low’s; something about it flips a switch inside your brain that changes you, just something different than before. Maybe you can call it compassion, exhaustion (mental and psychical), insanity, maybe just a different view of the world. Whatever it is, it’s there and you can’t fight it.

Whatever it is, accept the beauty and the challenge that comes with whatever change you experience as you go throughout college. You may not even notice it, but take a moment to reflect on the fact that you’re such a better version of yourself than you once were in high school. College changes people for the better.