Congratulations, high school class of 2017! It's finally over. It seems as though you've finally checked off every milestone and achieved every accomplishment.
You scored through the roof on your ACT test. You finally completed every essay for your long list of college applications. You picked out the perfect outfit for prom and attended the dance with the date of your dreams. You strutted across the stage to receive that long-awaited high school diploma. You've cried and laughed with your best friends. Finally, you've decided on a university to call home for the next four years. With high school coming to a close, it might seem like you can take a breath of relief that everything is finally over.
Oh, you'll quickly realize that it is just the beginning.
Many of you have just returned home after attending freshman orientation at your college. That is the moment when it all sinks in. You're used to being the top dog of your high school, looking at the baby freshmen and walking the halls like a champion. Now you've realized that you're the baby freshman again. You don't have a clue what you're doing. You don't know your way around campus, you don't know what to do with your major, and you don't really know anyone else in the entire school.
Trust me, I've been there.
Senior year of high school seemed like a huge bundle of stress, but now you have a thousand questions that never even crossed your mind before! What do I need to pack? How do I get along with a roommate I've never met before? Are community showers really scary? How do I live for nine months without my parents? You're about to go through the biggest change in your life so far.
It's the end of June, and every single incoming freshman is probably thinking, "There's still about two months left of summer. I have plenty of time to get ready for college!" But I was in your shoes last year, and I know for a fact that there is a feeling of absolute fear at the very pit of your stomach that you truly don't know what the hell you're doing. Every incoming freshman is feeling the same way. This summer is the quickest summer of your life.
Your mom is pushing you to decide between the bright yellow bedspread or the teal swirled sheets for your dorm room. You're trying to figure out what in the world shower shoes even are. And trust me, you're lying to yourself if you haven't imagined how you're going to introduce yourself to all of the strangers in your dorm (Announcing your name, major, hometown, and a fun fact about yourself will quickly become exhausting).
All of these new worries might have you rethinking about how stressful picking out your prom shoes was. Worrying about curling your hair perfectly for high school graduation seems like nothing compared to the stress of meeting your roommate for the first time. That one English test you got a "B" on during the first semester of 12th grade is starting to look like kindergarten knowing you'll have to write a 15-page research paper for English 1304. But you push it out of your mind because you're supposed to know what you're doing; you're a high school graduate!!
The quicker you come to terms with this, the better off you'll be: of course you're excited...but you're also extremely overwhelmed. Or you will be, at some point before August. However, everyone is in the same boat. Last year, on the day of moving into my freshman dorm at Baylor, I actually froze and couldn't get out of the car. Everyone is a little nervous, and there is nothing to be ashamed of! Everything is going to fall into place.
When you're all cozy in your dorm room bed during the second week of the semester, the color of your sheets won't seem to matter anymore. For now, just try not to stress...but enjoy the crazy chaos of the summer before college. It's like no other.