When we were little, we would listen to our parents and teachers telling us to cherish these moments because they would be gone in a blink of an eye. And even though we heard what they were saying, it seems like we did everything but listen. We stayed up against our parents wills, we jammed to the Backstreet Boys album on repeat and danced to it around our living rooms, we got into our first relationships, made friendships that we thought would last a lifetime, and we had some of the best and worst times of our life without a second thought. Then, all of the sudden, you wake up and you're in college, surrounded by these people that you've only known for a handful of months and trying to scrape up the money to pay your bills and still have fun on the weekends. And in those moments, you begin to grieve your old self or your old life that you were told time and time again to enjoy.
Now, it's not necessarily that you are unhappy or unsatisfied with where you are in life or who you are, but all of the sudden, you're in an unknown place with people that you don't quite know yet, trying to figure out what to do and who to be for the rest of your life. The uncertainty of your present day life makes you miss your careless high school self who woke up and only worried about making it to your afternoon practice without getting a nap or how to ask your parents to put gas in your car without getting a lecture. Things were simpler. And although college is supposed to be the "best four years of your life," it's okay if you sometimes miss how things used to be. It's only natural.
Whether you're grieving your old relationship, your old hobbies, your old friends, your old home, or your simpler, more innocent life, just know that it's normal and you're not alone. And even if college is the best four years of your life, it's still okay to miss how things used to be. College is a weird, confusing time of growth and rejection, trial and error, eventually successes and even though you're growing up and things might not be as simple as they used to be, you're still the same person you were back then and it's never to late to be the person that you want to be.
In fact, it's the perfect time to be the person that you want to be. As harsh as it might sound, the boy you are missing probably isn't thinking about you, but I bet there's one right in front of you who wants you instead. As good as you were at something in high school, there are always new skills to learn. Find something else you're good at and immerse yourself in it fully. Listen to a new genre of music and discover your new favorite artist. Those people right in front of you that you've only known for a few months? Learn everything there is to know about them. Make your long-lost best friends and keep in touch with your old ones. Go on adventures, be spiritual, never stop doing things that make time stand still for a few seconds. Stop looking at pictures of the 10-pounds-skinnier version of you who "used to be cool" and start loving the version you are now. Fall in love with the love of your life, fall in love with yourself, and fall in love with your life because in the end, you only get one of each. Stop dwelling on the past.
Growing up comes with learning to accept that who you were might not be the person you will always be. We're humans and change is inevitable. Learn to love it, learn to embrace it, and learn to enjoy it. Believe it or not, the best version of yourself is in the making and she's got a lot to show you.
