As a sophomore in college I am beginning to experience what many people refer to as the "sophomore slump." Before this year it was a term I had heard tossed around, but I hadn’t put much thought into. Now that it is a third of the way through this semester, I realized that what I am experiencing could be classified as the sophomore slump.

The sophomore slump is also sometimes referred to as “suffermore year” and according to Urban Dictionary is defined as, “the second year of college when you lose the direction of your life; the year you learn more about yourself after being jaded about college because freshman year is over and it's time to get serious.”

Essentially, this year is when you begin to feel unsure of the things you felt so confident about before. And this can be a wide range of things. You may feel unsure about your major, your future career goals, your friends, your hobbies, and maybe even college in general.

It’s difficult because the importance of sophomore year is often conveyed to students as the time to start making important decisions. Students are told we need to start joining clubs for our major, applying for internships, building our resumes and preparing to be a real adult one day. And even though it’s only our second year of college, the first sign of all these pressures can be extremely intimidating.

As sophomores, we want to retain the newness and excitement of freshman year. We want all the freedom, the fun, and the limited responsibility. Our second year still retains some these aspects, but they are less amplified. As school ensures, time is often crunched, fun is compromised for school, and our list of responsibilities grows significantly.

With all of these changes, sophomore year is confusing. A lot of decisions need to be made, and it is scary to be entirely accountable for decisions for the first time in our lives.

And although no one really wants to deal with the sophomore year slump, it is kind of necessary. Why? Because it makes us grow up. We don’t have parents and teachers to rely on for decision making anymore. Instead, we have to think for ourselves. It isn’t easy making this transition, but it does need to happen.

I am not going to say that the sophomore slump isn’t hard, because it is. Growing up is hard, and sometimes we don’t know how to handle everything to the best of our ability. But we do learn, and that is just what this year teaches us.

So no, we are not freshman anymore. And we may get intimidated when we hear seniors talking about graduation and post college life. College has maybe lost some of its sparkle, but that doesn’t make it bad. It is just different. And we adjust and will find new things to love about our college experience. I know that is what I am doing. My sophomore year is already much different--and harder--than my freshman year. But I love it all the same.

So as we all continue to navigate through this year, it is important to remember that it is okay to be unsure and scared. The future is daunting, and growing up can be difficult. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t handle it. We will handle it, and next year we will look back and laugh that we thought only our sophomore year was hard.