The expectations you put on yourself can be pretty burdensome. Although I’m still very young, I expected myself to be fully independent and functioning at this point in my life and it is, quite frankly, not the case. In addition, I assumed I would feel like I belonged within the campus in which I currently reside. Even though that’s not necessarily the case, I have recently been coming to terms with that feeling.

Picking a university to attend has been the biggest decision I have had to make in the past year or so. Many know that it’s not an easy task and people are giving you advice left and right. At the end of the whole thing, you expect to find yourself in a place that you absolutely love and where you want to stay. This is, unfortunately, not always the case. But, recognizing that can help you make it a place where you feel like you belong.

When I first began to realize that I didn’t feel myself at the university I chose, I thought that it was extremely abnormal. My friends really loved where they were, and they felt confident about the choices they were making. At first, I just thought I felt this way because I was still new to the area and getting used to the rhythm of things. But when this feeling persisted into my second semester, I became unsure if I had really made the right choice.

At the time, it was really stressful for me to wrap my head around all of this. I had never heard of anyone feeling dissatisfied with their school, so I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t even know if I actually was dissatisfied with my decision, I just knew I didn’t feel at home. Now, I have come to terms with it and I realize that it is okay to not love where I’m at in life. I can pinpoint the reasons that I feel this way and work on them until I’m in a position in which I really am content with my decision.

Applying this outlook on other things that you have to deal with might really help in the long-run. There are other ways around a situation and you’ll eventually be in a place where you can take a step back and know that you have achieved what you wanted to. This can even change with time, so feeling stressed about your current situation may not be worth it in the end. Things may happen fast, but they don’t all happen at once.

Attitudes can change and it certainly isn’t the end of the road if something doesn’t turn out the way you wanted it to. Recognizing that there are things I can control to better my situation has helped enormously. Expecting to feel content and confident in something is not always a bad thing, but it can sometimes stop you from taking the actions to get to where you want to be.