College is such a wonderful, stressful, exciting, and incredible roller coaster ride. Even with all of the stress, college is meant to break you completely out of your comfort zone so that you really become who you are supposed to be. The ultimate goal is to find yourself, and it may be hard to do that if you are carrying baggage from high school. This isn’t true of all high school sweethearts; we’ve all heard of those amazing couples that last all the way through high school, college, and so on. On the other hand, some high school relationships weren’t made for college. If these signs pertain to you and your relationship, don’t feel as though your entire relationship was a waste, just remember that you are destined for bigger and better things!
Your relationship isn’t helping you grow
A healthy relationship should always keep you moving and growing. If your significant person isn’t supporting you and challenging you to be the best person you can be, then you might be in a stagnant position where nothing is changing. It’s perfectly fine to be comfortable in your relationship, but when does comfort turn into routine? This is the time of your life and you should be doing everything possible to push yourself further to find yourself.
You want different things
It is perfectly normal to want different things than you did in high school. College is meant for you to find out what you want out of life and what you don’t. If you realize that maybe you want to live in Spain for a year or you want to pursue a completely different career than you originally thought, you should 100% be willing to go for it. If you feel like your relationship is holding you back from pursing your dreams, whatever they may be, you might need to break away.
You find yourself thinking of the high school times
High school sweethearts were amazing to have. Think about it, you had a date to every single dance and party. You never had to worry about being alone or never having anyone there for you. But guess what? There is nothing wrong with being alone and being your own best friend. If college should teach you anything, it should teach you that yourself is all you need and if you can make yourself happy, then you’re set. I’m not saying to complete forget the high school times because they probably were amazing, but you need to move on from them because you might be a different person than you were in high school.
I hope these tips helped if you’re in torn over whether you still want your school relationship! Remember, there is absolutely nothing wrong with change. It is completely normal for your life to change during the 4+ years of college! If you’re in perfectly healthy relationship that begun in high school, then I salute you because obviously you’ve found someone that is willing to grow and change with you! The trick is to find someone who you fall hopelessly in love with, without losing sight of yourself. Love yourself first!
